For the Record

Last year I started a notebook in which I kept track of the books I read, movies watched, trips taken, and projects accomplished.  Now into a second year of doing so, I find it interesting to compare notes between the years.  Just for the record, following are a few of my observations.

Last year, I finished my first book of the year during the first week.  Today I finally finished the first book for this year.  Interestingly, both books were based on a set of 10 things.  Last year the book was "Red Sea Rules" by Robert J. Morgan.  Our pastor subsequently did a sermon series based on this book, and its contents are well worth considering.

My first book for 2019 was actually borrowed to me by a friend who is also a Legislative spouse.  Her daughter-in-law had recommended it to her as a good book, with the title being, "In His Image."  The author, Jen Wilkin, utilized a subtitle of "10 Ways God Calls Us To Reflect His Character."  With each chapter, she chose a characteristic of God, and then challenged her readers to follow His lead by reflecting this to the world.  The list is a powerful one, and one which made me realize, over and over, how much I fall short.  Without giving you the whole story, I will simply introduce you to the 10 things God is. . .holy, loving, good, just, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise.  How do you think you would do?

Let's move on to movies watched.  Over the course of 2018 I have recorded only 5 movies watched.  It seems the list should have been longer, but I couldn't really think of any I may have missed.  This year, we are only in the second month, and I have already passed last year's record, with a list of 8 new movies watched, plus a repeat of one already seen which we watched in our Bible Study.  For this you can thank [or perhaps curse??] the addition of Netflix to our world.  The condo in which we stay during the Legislative session now has this option available, and it is so convenient to simply pick a movie for the evening when we get home from functions early enough.

Now, I'm not insinuating taking time to watch movies is bad.  I do see in my own life, however, where it is taking away time I could be doing better things on behalf of the God I claim to serve.  In our Spouse's Bible Study we are using a study called, "Empowered" by Rebecca Manley Pippert.  Her focus is equipping us for relational evangelism. . .which involves actually sitting down with people one on one, and spending time with them.  At some point, this includes sharing your faith walk with them, and pointing them to starting one, or strengthening it, should they already have one.

Perhaps I need to start a new list of people I've influenced for the Lord.  It may mean fewer movies in the future to allow time to establish relationships.  It might also help me in developing those ten characteristics I just read about!