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Archive - December, 2009

Happy New Year?

December 31, 2009 in Spiritual Growth with 50 Comments

I was just sitting here doing some writing and a thought came to my mind.

How do you define “Happy New Year?”

For the past couple of days I’ve been telling just about everyone I run into at Panera, at the mall, and on the street to have a “Happy New Year.” But now that I’m sitting here thinking about it I’m not even sure I know what that means.

My guess is it means a lot different things to a lot of different people.

I think if you ask most people what they want from life they will give you a similar answer, “I just want to be happy.” There is often a belief that happiness is something you can achieve and hold on to. It’s almost as if we look forward to that time where we can finally be happy, but it perpetually alludes us.

Here’s my two cents worth of advice. Don’t seek “happiness” in 2010. It is far better to seek “joy.” Joy is related to happiness, but is a much deeper and richer experience. In the search for happiness you will always focus on yourself, but joy will move you beyond a self-centered preoccupation and provide a purpose that is oriented toward others.

Again, just my thoughts. But I would love to hear from you.

What will make 2010 a “Happy New Year” for you?

31 Day Challenge

December 30, 2009 in Cross Point Church, Spiritual Growth with 191 Comments

I think one of my favorite seasons on Without Wax last year was the 28 day challenge we did leading up to Easter where hundreds of you joined me in reading through the book of Matthew.

With that in mind I want to extend an invitation for you guys to join me for the 31 Day Challenge.

It’s simple. There are 31 days in January and 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. I want to challenge you to read a chapter a day from Proverbs through the month of January. We’ll start with Proverbs 1 this Friday, January 1.

I’m doing this challenge in conjunction with a new series we’re launching next week at Cross Point entitled Pursuit, The Search for More, where we’re going to go through the book of Proverbs. Whether you’re at Cross Point or not I would love to challenge you to be a part. We’ve even set up a separate blog RIGHT HERE so you can discuss with others what you’re reading. You can also track each others observations by using the twitter hash tag #cp31days.

Do me a favor and leave me a comment if you want to join us. Then RT this post and let’s see how many people we can get to join!

Are you in?

My Days Are Numbered

December 29, 2009 in Vision with 57 Comments

I know some people are “anti” New Year’s resolutions. However, I think this is an exciting time of year to set goals and establish new perspectives. As a matter of fact this blog is a result of one of my New Year’s resolutions from two years ago.

My New Year’s resolution this year is more of a broad perspective I want to establish throughout this year which I believe will lead to making wiser decisions throughout the next 12 months. It’s inspired by the following passage in Psalm 39.

4 “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.”
Show me, God, my life’s end. Show me the number of my days. Show me how fleeting my life is.

I want to live in 2010 with the awareness of LIFE GOES BY FAST and MY DAYS ARE NUMBERED.

Like everyone else I can get caught up in trying to rush through life acquiring things, trying to attain security, and achieving meaningless goals our culture has deemed worthy. But so many of the things I focus on and worry about are simply futile.

I waste time regretting things from the past I can’t change. I settle for mediocrity trying to avoid difficult decisions and conversations. I get consumed with trying to be loved instead of loving others. I squander precious moments trying to control things I can’t control.

I don’t want that to be my life. I don’t want that to be my vision… because that vision cannot sustain God’s design for something as splendid as a human life. That is a vision born out of thinking I have an endless amount of time on this earth to make the impact God has designed me to make and this, my friends, is nothing more than an illusion.

So in 2010 I’m making a resolution, a commitment, a promise to view my life (my marriage, my job, my friendships, my purpose) through the understanding that LIFE GOES BY FAST and MY DAYS ARE NUMBERED.

I pray it will help me love deeper, pray harder, focus more intently, and seek to make the greatest impact with my one and only life that I possibly can.

And the first decision I’m making with my newly adopted perspective is a big one for me.

My friend, Michael Hyatt, recently challenged me to run the Country Music Half Marathon with him. If you know me you know I HATE running. But what I love more than I hate running is bringing attention to great causes like the New Hope Academy here in Franklin. So with that in mind, and knowing my days are numbered, I thought what the heck. Why not? (I was also told that since I’ll be running so much I can eat all the french fries I want).

So I’m officially stepping out and committing to run the Country Music Half Marathon here in Nashville on April 24th!

If you’re considering running in the Country Music Marathon this year I would challenge you to run it with the Powered By Hope group. It adds an incredible cause to your goal of completing the marathon.

So what’s your New Year’s resolution for 2010?

Backroads

December 28, 2009 in Family with 43 Comments

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the down time with family. We’re back in Nashville now, but the couple days we spent in Kentucky with Brandi’s family was great.

No agenda.
No to do list.
No email.

In fact, on Saturday I told Brandi let’s just get in the car and drive. She asked, “Where?” I said, “Nowhere. Let’s just hop in the car and drive backroads.”

So we did and we had a blast. Took a couple pictures along the way and it’s amazing what you see when you slow down and your eyes are wide open.

A Near Perfect Christmas

December 26, 2009 in Family, Holidays with 15 Comments

If there is such a thing as a “perfect” Christmas this year would probably be it.

After 7 amazing Christmas Eve services we’ve spent the past couple of days just hanging out and enjoying some great quality time with each other.

We spent Christmas morning at home and took off around lunch to spend a couple days here in rural Western Kentucky with Brandi’s parents.

Amazing how time slows down here!

Here’s a few of my favorite pictures from the big day. I’ll post the rest to my facebook within a few days.

Merry Christmas From The Wilsons

December 24, 2009 in Family, Holidays, Videos with 36 Comments

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate each one of you who regularly visits this blog. Over the past two years you guys have become an important part of our family.

I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas and get to spend tons of time with friends and family!

Love you all!!!

Here’s a little Christmas caroling from us to you starring our own Lil’ Brew. Sorry but I somehow managed to cut our heads off which is pretty difficult to do when you’re like 5’8. Oh well, enjoy!

Ran out of time to give you a tour of the lights this year but here’s last years video just for fun…

Christmas Open House from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

My Worst Haircut Ever

December 22, 2009 in Random Fun with 73 Comments

Somehow, for years, my hair has been made fun on in one way or another. I’ll readily admit that some of my hair styles have been a bit our there and worthy of discussion and criticism. Most notably was the cut I had for about 3 months in 1995, years before I would sport “The Pete.”

Keep in mind at that time George Clooney was at the height of his career starring in “ER.” I remember seeing his hair style and thinking to myself, “I think I can pull that off.” Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong! And I have the picture to prove it.

There are two remarkable things about this picture:

1) It was taken on this very day 14 years ago.

2) It was taken 15 minutes after I had gotten down on one knee in the middle of an ice rink and asked Brandi to marry me.

To this day I can’t believe she said “Yes” with me sporting that haircut. Once again, proof that she must have really loved me.

**UPDATE** My friend Ian just sent me this pic. Striking similarities.

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