dreams on a deadline

New Year's resolutions never really work for me. I know I struggle with the willpower to adhere to some well meaning platitudes of what I will do in the new year to turn over a new leaf. Yesterday I was reading Paul Viera's blog (in the list to the right), and he said that he doesn't do resolutions, but sets goals for the new year. He said that "goals are dreams with a deadline." So I was thinking about some goals I need to set for myself for this coming year. I'm not sure if it will make it more impact than resolutions, but here are some goals I want to set for myself this year:

• Leave 2008 at least 25 pounds lighter than I came in. Of course that means I have to lay off Coca-Cola and chocolate, and I don't know if I can or not, but it's only 2 pounds a month. I should be able to cut back enough for that. We'll see.
• Get through all the paperwork rigmarole to get our tax-exempt status for our ministry. My wife and I just incorporated our ministry, Grace Unlimited Ministries, and are in the process of planting a church, which will come under the status of our ministry. So it's important that we get this aspect of ministry in today's world done.
• To launch the church this year. I don't want to rush anything. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm more "slow and steady wins the race," than "Speedy Gonzales" out the gate. But I do want to see our community to be able to go public this year, inviting others to join this journey with us and help people connect with God in a new and exciting way. (Of course, this means we need to have a name for said community, of which we do not have yet. Pray for me, I have name issues.)
• I would like to finish the rewrite of the book I wrote a couple years ago, but never published. I'm glad now that I never published it, because after my bout with the CLB, I now have to do some serious reworking, as I've learned a whole lot more about what I am writing than I did then. So maybe this will be the year I finish the book that has taken seven years to write.
• The fear of failure and the loss of confidence that we experienced going through our church left behind journey makes things harder sometimes than they should. I definitely want to leave 2008 with more confidence and belief in myself than I've come into it with. I want to leave this experience that scarred us so deeply, yet some days I feel like it will never heal. It's like a scar that itches and when I scratch it, it brings up the memories of what set it there in the first place. We're 18 months from it, yet it still echoes.
• The last one (because I don't want to have too many and mess them up) is more of a continuing commitment, rather than a goal or resolution. I want to be more present with my wife and daughter. Not that I'm absent or not available, but I want to be more "in the moment" with them. I want to not lose these precious years with Sarah, simply going through the motions. I want to be the man that they both need me to be. God, give me grace.

Wow, sorry, didn't plan for this to be so open. Well, God, here are some dreams, help us get to the deadline on time.