You'll find occasional postings on this blog site (the archives are certainly worth a look), as well as some ongoing conversation in response to questions posed by readers. Feel free to leave your comments and questions below this post, or email me at derekmaul@gmail.com.
For daily posts (4-6 weekly entries), check out my ongoing - eponymous - blog at Derek Maul. Or the more specifically focused The Preacher's Husband, updated around twice each week.
Regardless of how we stay in touch, take this opportunity to commit your 2011 to a more deliberate path of following Jesus. I've included my thoughts for the New Year below,
Grace and Peace - DEREK
Jesus – “I am the gate. Everyone who enters through me will find that they can truly live. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10)
What’s on my mind is the wide-open window of possibility that is 2011. This New Year is waiting for me to understand the realm of what can be, to engage a vision, and then to live beyond my dreams.
I’m not talking about resolutions, so much as promise, possibilities, belief and intention. I’m talking about being deliberate in terms of moving forward. If I really am a Jesus-follower, then I have to leave myself open to a range of outcomes in 2011 that is much more extensive than the limit of my dreams, a quality of experience that falls well outside of my own safe and manageable repertoire of what-ifs.
First, I’m stepping into 2011 with the belief that this could be a breakthrough year for me professionally:
- I have my first opportunity to keynote a national conference
- I have another new book coming out
- I have a new project percolating that has the potential to be huge
- and I’ve sketched out an outline for another manuscript.
I believe that I really am moving forward, but at the same time I wonder about where my own lack of faith and my spiritual poverty is putting the breaks on the plans the Creator has for me.
So I plan to begin 2011 by meditating, by listening and by taking the time to clarify my vision.
Rebekah gave me a tripod for Christmas, so I can use my camera to peer more intently when there’s not a lot of obvious light. I plan on using a spiritual tripod too, so that I can apprehend the light that is hidden beneath what is superficial. I know that such a task will require patience, and listening, and waiting; like a camera on a tripod; being still.
If there’s one place I want to go in this New Year it is beyond what is superficial. And I know of only one way to get there. Jesus said, “I am the gate.”
I like the way the CEV translates Psalm 46:
God says, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth." The Lord who rules over all is with us. The God of Jacob is like a fort to us.
- I’m going to be still
- I'm going to use my spiritual tripod
- I'm going to enter in by the gate and find pasture
- I'm going to trust God to open up the New Year
- and I'll be praying that, “The God of Jacob will be like a fort to me”.
