End of 2023: It’s Not About Doing More

As the year comes to an end and a new year starts, we tend to look back and reflect on what we accomplished in the last 365 days. Some of us look back inspired and pleased with how the year went and time well spent. Most of us, on the other hand,  reflect back and wish we had done more:

• Read more books
• Spent more time with loved ones
• Investing more in our kids
• Gone on more trips, seen more concerts, taken more days off

More, more, more.

But at the end of the day, is it really about doing more? I mean, really, in this day and age of technology in which we live, can we really do more? Technology in the long run takes away our time and does not fulfil it. We spend time trying to learn a program, use a phone, play video games, and the list goes on and on. Then we top the “More Cake” with the icing of social media.

Maybe in the end, it’s about doing less.

But I think I have a better solution when it comes to having our cake AND eating it too. Maybe we can have more, through progressive consistency.

What is progressive consistency? It’s doing something positive in a regularly occurring dependable way to complete a task. Taking small steps to finish something meaningful. 

Take reading a book for instance. Some people can read an entire book in a few hours. Some sporadically read through the week. Others have time for a few pages a day. It really doesn’t matter how long it takes. What matters is that it gets done.

Have you ever heard the expression, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Finishing your plate is the ultimate goal, but stopping between bites to savor the flavor is equally important

Consistently does not mean, constantly

It’s not about constantly doing something either. Things come up momentarily. We need rest and to be recharged. And sometimes we just need to sit at the feet of Jesus and be still. It’s not about fitting all we can in a day, but enjoying the moment.

Plans for 2024

This year I am going to try and use this method to get things done that need to be done; things I have put off the past few years with minor adjustments.

Less Devotionals

By the end of this year, I will have read the entire Bible straight through. It was great for me, but with all the reading, did I really remember or discover anything new? Probably not. It was more setting a goal and fulfilling it.

So, this next year, I want to try something different with a goal and a plan to actually be useful to me with evangelism.

Angles of the Cross

A few months ago, I participated in a 6-week online seminar led by Tony Ramsek of What Does the Scripture Say called “Angles of the Cross.” In it, we reviewed six of the twelve aspects of salvation from different angles. The twelve are:

1. Forgiveness
2. Justification
3. Imputation
4. Substitution
5. Reconcilliation
6. Propitiation
7. Regeneration
8. Redemption
9. Atonement
10. Adoption
11. Righteousness of God
12. Love

Since this is a 12-part project, I plan to study one a month and also highlight each one in my evangelism for that month to practice what I learn. Who knows, maybe this could turn into a more fulfilling writing project at a later date.

Less reading

Another thing I want to concentrate on is to spend more time writing my books and less time writing blog posts. Now that the content on the Pens And Wrenches website is quite sizeable, it’s time to let grow what has already been planted. That doesn’t mean that I stop adding to it. But I found that I was sacrificing quality for quantity.

There were several blog posts that I loved writing, and many more thoughts to get on the screen and in front of people’s eyes; but it was the ones that I took more time to write that were the ones that were so much more impactful to those who read them.

One of the new things I would like to do is to go back to writing some magazine articles outside of The Gideon’s International Magazine. Though Time, Life, and The New Yorker are probably unatainable, I would like to share my thoughts with some other Christian magazines.

Pray consistantly

Like many people, praying is a weak point in my life. I even have an amazing app on my phone called Prayer Mate to remind me to pray and keep track of the many prayers for those I love and those suffering in the world.

I like the app, but I tend to ignore the notification. It is as useless as my app to help me drink water. It only makes me want to pee every time the rushing water alarm goes off. I’ve found a better way to remind me to pray. Here are some of my suggestions:

• Pray for those who are in the porn industry and trafficked around the world whenever we are tempted to look at pornography.
• Pray for those who are hurting whenever we hear an ambulance, firetruck, or Mercy1 helicopter.
• Pray for our first responders and those who protect us every day whenever we see police or military vehicles.
• Pray for those who have no family to comfort and visit them whenever we pass by a nursing home. 
• Pray for the youth that they will be protected from the many dangers we never had to face growing up in a society that has lost its moral compas as they walk to and from school.
• Whenever you turn on a light, hear the heater kick on, it’s raining outside and you’re not wet: be thankful and pray for those who are without. 

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Teaching classes

Starting February 3rd, I will be teaching Stand to Reason’s  Tactics in Defending the Fath at Calvary Chapel Des Moines for six weeks. We have many new members who never went through the class before and would be a good refresher to those who have.

I really like this course because it teaches people how to navigate an evangelistic conversation when they don’t know what to say or answer questions asked of them. The best part is that we don’t always have to have the answers. Most people we are engaging actually end up answering their own questions.

I would also like to have other smaller sessions through the year to help people share their faith from things that I have learned through the years. This could either be online or in person. But, the most influential training is hands-on street evangelism, which I much rather do.

I look forward to the year ahead and hoping to put my toe in the water with some new ideas and projects; maybe finish the ones I’ve started.

Thank You!

I am deeply thankful and humbled for all of you who have read, shared, commented, and liked the articles of this website. I am also thankful for those who have dissagreed with and argued at times over content that they have glanced through on Pens & Wrenches. As always, I will gladly change content if I am incorrect with anything I publish.

Authors want to sell books. They dream of being on the New York Times Best Seller list, sell over a million coppies, and when their books transform to film — mind-blowing. But writers just want to be read. Their heart jumps a bit when they hold a magazine article that they wrote in their hands, but even more excited when people actually read it.

I don’t know the plans the Lord has for this site, but I know they are good. Thanks for reading and being a part of this journey.