new year's resolutions

i've discovered that the key to selecting good new year's resolutions are three fold:

simple, attainable, short term. i know that sounds fairly insignificant, but i achieved all 3 of my goals by groundhog day... just sayin. this update wasn't for me to brag, but to expose an idea of continual evaluation and goal setting. i'll use my goals for example: 

i removed the name of my partner in crime to provide a small amount of anonymity, but i wanted to focus more on what i "brought to the table", no pun intended. (we wrote our goals on our dinner table!). 

all bad jokes aside, i think i'm on to something. here were my goals: 

1. "laugh more, less 'i knows'"

this goal was a relational one, in that i just wanted to laugh more and enjoy life, while removing an element of pride, conversationally saying "i know", which just means I would value others   conversationally more. this has been fairly easy to do with an honest effort. 

2. "investing more in nonbelievers"

as a christian, i tend to spend time with people who understand and deeply value the things i do. also, i know that God's put the call on my life to bring His message of salvation to people who don't know Him. i think sometimes people feel like that's an awkward perception, but really i just wanted to be more intentional in spending time with people that i love that don't know God very well or at all. it's gone pretty well. 

3. "build 3 woodworked objects"

this goal was unashamedly a push to become more masculine in a lumberjack kind of way. honestly, i don't want to be 30 and not know how to construct basic things that could be asked of me at that phase in life. i just feel such a sense of accomplishment both a.) looking at things i've built and b.) knowing i have the ability to build things.  with the help of some incredible friends (thanks patrick and chase!) here's a few of my works of art: 

i really enjoyed doing these projects with my friends and being less prideful in conversations, but what i wanted to start to achieve with these goals was to be 1) more relational 2) more spiritually mature and 3) more of the man that i want to be someday. while these goals are small in nature, they're steps in the direction to achieve a vision of the kind of man that i hope to be someday.
so what i wanted to ask you is who you want to be someday. this next week, i'm hoping to talk with the spring pledge class of my fraternity and the 2 questions i want to ask them are both who do you want to be someday and what do you want to do with your life.
i think it's important that we have a vision, both in general and some specific ideas about who want to be someday, so that we can take small steps to be that person someday. my desire is to be a faithful steward of the life i've been given and i hope that the few things i share can help you to do the same.

happy short term goal setting friends!

titus helped hold down the tarp, what a guy.