New Year

The new year is a great time for new habits and fresh starts. I am a big fan of new years resolutions because there have been so many times in my own life that a new surge of determination resulted in positive change. As C.S. Lewis has said, "You are never too old to set new goals or to dream new dreams."

But the truth is most of us who attempt to turn over a new leaf don't quite get the page turned. Of a 100 people who make a determination that they will break a bad habit or begin a new one, only about 17 will succeed according to Richard Wiseman, a psychologist with Britain's University of Hertfordshire who tracked the resolution-making instincts of 1,800 Britons and 1,200 Americans back in 2007.

But I still say that if you success rate is only about 17%- that is a good enough percentage to take advantage of the fresh start the new year brings.

Next week I will publish my annual recommendation for reading a book a month in the coming year. I think a commitment to reading is extremely beneficial to the Christian life. The fact that you are reading this blog right now tells me that you likely are the kind of person who enjoys reading Why not commit to at least one book a month in 2010?

I also want to encourage everyone in our church family to commit to read the Bible through in 2010. Over the past few years I have used a pattern of reading from different sections of the Bible each day. It is a simple pattern of reading through the different genres of the Bible so that you always maintain a well balanced approach to scripture study.

If you click on this link you can find a great example of this approach. I like this method because it builds in a mechanism for making up for lost time.