I read where J.C. Penney said, “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”. I don’t want to be a stock clerk; I want to change history, so here are my goals listed in no particular order, but I am categorizing them in the following: Life Goals, Family Goals, Personal Goals.

LIFE GOALS:

• Leave an inheritance to my children
• Leave a legacy for my grandchildren
• See my entire family come to know Christ
• Celebrate 50 years being married to Robin
• Become financially independent

FAMILY GOALS:

• Have ALL my children and their spouses and grandchildren celebrate at least one Christmas at my house
• Take my future son-in-laws on a one week camping/jeeping trip before they marry my daughters
• Hold my grandchildren when they are born
• Take my children on a mission trip

PERSONAL GOALS:

• Climb El Capitan
• Visit Mt. McKinley
• Scuba dive in the Turks
• Take my wife on a cruise
• Invent something

(added) I also want to include goals for this year…

• Touch 50 families positively for Christ from our Life Group
• Have a successful year both financially and spiritually that culminates in a WONDERFUL family Christmas that has all my children and other family members with us at that time
• Help Robin complete her goal of summit-ting a 14’er this summer
• Go on another missions trip this summer
• Visit a natural wonder outside of Colorado

I am going to make a list of goals; life goals, short goals, summer goals, etc. One of the things I want to do this summer is to go here: Summer TO DO!

A mission statement goes a long way towards defining who you really are. Pulling words from thoughts about your values, what drives you, what you are passionate about, you can form a pretty accurate mission statement that defines what you care about, what you strive for, what you are made of.  My mission statement is as follows:

I will inspire my family and others to discover and act on God’s purpose for their lives, through mentoring and adventurous living in compassion and holiness. I will serve as an example of action, reflecting commitment, strength, love for God’s Word, and standing firmly on God’s Truth to defend the defenseless.

Having a mission statement helps you lead a purposed life, but what is purposed living without goals? We are striving for something, but how do we know if we are successful? We need goals. I know I will need to set some more specific goals going forward, but I believe I found my goals this morning. I re-read Matthew 5:1-12. I won’t quote it here, but rather, go read it for yourself. These will be my goals; these will help me measure where I am in my quest called life.

John 15:1-11 says,  “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He ^[a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already ^[b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit ^[c]of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so ^[d]prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

This passage is pretty popular and often preached on, but what does it really mean to “abide”? Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has this for the definition:

Strip away all the commercialized junk that has been attached to one of our biggest holidays (like a pilot fish eating scum off a whale’s belly) Thanksgiving is truly a wonderful time of reflecting on the importance of family, heritage, and God’s grace to us. For the first time in a long time, I am going to be without family on Thursday and even though I will be able to play in the 3rd annual turkey bowl (football game) and eat food with friends from church, it really isn’t even a close third to spending the day with family.

With that being said, Charlie, Margaret Ann, Katherine, Lenkie, Janie, Sandra, Mark, Elliott, I love you and miss you very much. I am SO thankful to have brothers and sisters that aren’t perfect, but we DO love each other and for that, I am blessed. To my children, Andie, Shelby, and Caleb, you truly are my GREATEST accomplishments. To be able to be your dad has been the greatest gift God has given me on this earth. To all my nieces and nephews, Lisa E. Matthew E. Amy, Jeanie, Emily, Sarah, Andrew, Shari, Paul, Stephen, Amanda, (I have MANY MANY more), I love you all and I am proud to be a part of such a large, wonderful family!!

God, I want to give you thanks for my family. I pray You will continue to bless us and keep us for Your purpose. Use us as You see fit, keep us in Your house. Amen!