It goes by quickly

"Who would ever think of allowing an untrained man to climb into the cockpit of an airplane and tinker with the gauges?  Or who would allow a novice to service the engines of a modern jet?  Yet we expect men to build strong, loving relationships without any education at all.  Most men don't have the slightest idea how to read the complicated "gauges" of a woman..."

When I was a kid, I had all sorts of plans for how I would behave when I grew up.   I was gonna' workout regularly and have devotions at 5 am. My wife would never have to ask me to take out the trash, and our cars would always be cleaned and waxed, ready to be a carriage for my "Queen" whenever she wished.


One can laugh now.  The cars are salt-crusted.  The wife has to remind me twice before I take the trash out, and I am sturdily working on the mounts for a spare tire around my midsection.  Thankfully the devotions stay pretty current -- although not at 5 am.


But thankfully, I've kept decent notes of my childhood ambitions throughout the years, and I frequently revisit them to glean the best (and most feasible) of the ideas.


One of those was my plan to devote a significant amount of time each year to becoming a better husband.


This was a practice I began to undertake in earnest when I was about 19.  I ran across If Only He Knew by Gary Smalley and was horrified at how many despicable, marriage-ruining traits I owned.  God did a lot to change me at that time through that book, and as a married man, it seemed a fitting time to pick it up again.

So to my friends who are unmarried, I say, pick up some good works, and read from experienced, Godly people who have established Godly marriages before us.  And to those of us men who have "taken the leap", must I remind us that every high-caliber career --whether it be fighter pilot or brain surgeon -- requires "Continuing Education Courses".  Enroll yourselves, men.  Your marriage depends on it.

That's my opinion anyhow.

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Wow.  The honey and I just passed our 6 month anniversary. It's scary how fast time flies.

I thinks that's why I've always felt like it was so important to write down goals. Otherwise, it is so easy to wake 3 years down the road and go "What Happened?!"  And, while I don't make as religious a ceremony out of New Year's Eve as I used to, January is still a great time for me to seek God's leading and right down and store physical goals that mirror His Calling in my life. 

The following year, I will pull them out and see how in tune I actually was. The results can really be amazing.  Sometimes it takes three or four years to reach a goal.  Sometimes God starts moving things really fast and a goal is reached supernaturally in half the time.  Many goals have been discarded as having no value -- just my flesh getting in the way.  It's been powerful tool in my life.

Maybe that's why God set my birthday in January.

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..Thanks for stopping by.  I think I'll park the bike in a snow bank and hike off into the woods for a change.  Stick around.  Maybe we'll find something cool.