What R U After? (Mark 1)

I posted a bible reading plan for 2009 that some of you have decided to join me in. I don’t know if I’ll have internet access every day of this year, but I thought maybe I’d share a little nugget or personal application I got from that day’s reading, especially as it relates to the journey God has me on right now – moving to Las Vegas to start a new church on the Strip.

So, I realize the plan I posted is a little “off” – because I am going to read the N.T. on Mondays through Fridays, and read the Psalms and Proverbs on the weekends. That means I’m actually starting on the Day Two reading, and will do Day One on Saturday.

Anyway, the first NT reading is Mark 1… A couple of thoughts I had:

1. Mk 1:2 I hope God has sent someone to prepare the way for me in Vegas. If Jesus needed that, I certainly do. And this is part of the reason we’re moving to Vegas a full year before we start offering weekly services, to try and prepare the way.
2. Mk 1:11 This is what I hope for in life. For God to say to me, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” It’s so easy to confused about what I’m after. Especially, I think, for pastors. Where what we hope for is some kind of worldly pastoral measure of success that will impress people, and prove to our dads that we really were special, and make our mothers sorry they didn’t breast feed us. But the real goal is for God to smile and say, “I am well pleased.” That is everything.

It’s the first day of a New Year – maybe it’d be a great moment for you to stop and look at your life, asking, “What am I after?” “How do I need to change?” “What would 2009 look like for me is my only real goal was to make God smile?”

What do you think?