This spring we’re stoked to be a part of the Rock and Worship Roadshow, along with Mercy Me, Tenth Avenue North, Lecrae, Disciple, Sidewalk Prophets, The Rend Collective Experiment, and Moriah Peters. This is one of the best bills we’ve ever been a part of. Every single act brings something different to the show, and everyone is really great at what they do. 

Check out www.therockandworshiproadshow.com for tour dates and info!

New Year’s. What a sneaky holiday.

Just as you’ve finished polishing off a turkey, stuffing, and 8 pounds of pie, it ambushes you. It’s like it knows its big brother Christmas will get all the attention, so it just lingers a few days behind, and smacks you faster than you can say “No-one actually calls it having thirds, right? It’s still called having seconds?”

Classic.

Yeah…. Thanks Pope Gregory XIII. Put the most reflective holiday exactly 1 week after the holiday on which we indulge the most. Nothing like starting a new year with an extra 10 pounds of cake on ya. It’s almost as if someone knew we’d have to hit bottom before we’d even consider anything like a New Years Resolution. Ahhhh those clever Catholics! 

• Side Note: The week between Christmas and New Years has got to be the LEAST productive week of the year. Nobody really takes it seriously, right? It’s like a free week of….. Whatever. …. and then BAM come the resolutions!

New Years Resolutions are probably one of my favorite parts of the end of the year. I just love hearing all the grandiose changes people plan on making all at once, expecting it to stick like magic. Do you know what percentage of New Years Resolutions are kept for the entire year? 8 percent. That means 92% of resolutions fail. 

I’m not rooting for failure here, I’m just wondering if maybe there’s a better way to do this…. maybe some adjustments can be made to help us actually meet our goals. Here are some thoughts. 

1. Set reasonable goals. 

2. Set a real timetable for results.

3. Start small, and build momentum.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Change is hard, and takes determination. The larger the change, the more difficult it will be to stick. Choose a goal that is lofty enough to inspire you, but not so out of reach that you won’t have any realistic chance of reaching it. 

If weight loss is your goal, come up with a plan to lose weight with goals to meet each week, instead of blindly saying “I want to lose 30 pounds”. If debt reduction is your goal, do the same. Attack your goal in chunks, setting small goals along the way. Meeting these goals will create momentum that will encourage you to keep going! 

Small changes are easier to stick to, so try changing some small things, and practice sticking to the change.

For instance, my wife is trying a juicing fast for 15 days. I’m not really prepared to go that hardcore, but I have decided to replace 1 meal with a homemade juice each day over that same time period. Only a couple days in, and I feel really good about the change. Since it’s a relatively small change, it doesn’t feel like much of a sacrifice, and getting the nutritional value of 1 juiced meal sure beats having no veggies at all (Funny enough, I’ve actually kind of started craving the juice - it’s really quite delicious).

Making this one change, and feeling good because of it, has actually inspired me in other areas. I’ve been running more recently (5k every morning), and just being more aware of what I’m eating. The way that makes me feel only inspires me to continue. That’s the kind of momentum I love!

So…. What are your New Years Resolutions?

I found this post from a few years ago - thought it was funny….. It’s my guide to to the end of the world (or at least end-of-the-world movies)…. :)

1. The President is in charge of the world, and it’s up to him to make choices that save America. If other parts of the earth are saved, that’s a bonus.

2. Generals are always wrong. They will tell the President to take the exact wrong course of action. They love red phones with no buttons.

3. Nuclear bombs can fix just about anything… Whether it’s breaking up an asteroid or restarting the earth’s core rotation… Nukes are handy little fellas.

4. When re-wiring a nuclear bomb, always cut the red wire. Never the green. In fact, use the red, white, and blue wires whenever possible. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

5. When the destruction starts, you can be sure that it will strike in Europe or Asia first. Rome, Paris, London, Tokyo, and Beijing seem to be the favorites.

6. Destruction will reach America eventually, but will spare most of the population. Regardless, the golden gate bridge must be destroyed at some point in the film.

7. If the movie involves spaceflight, be sure to ignore all basic laws of physics. You can walk on small asteroids even though the gravity wouldn’t be enough to hold you down, you can hear explosions in space even though sound can’t travel in a vacuum, and of course, nukes still fix everything.

8. 60% of the time, the cause of the destruction is something we did to the planet. Global warming, scientific experimentation gone awry, or something of that sort. Don’t worry though, 20% of the time the President is African-American, so the human race isn’t so bad.

9. The clock always stops with 3 seconds left….. and the 15 seconds preceeding this little miracle are always enough to say goodbye to your loved ones and have a nice 2-minute flashback.

10. In the end, much of the earth is destroyed, but the remaining population have learned a valuable lesson… or have they?! Well, at least the threat is neutralized…. OR IS IT?!!!…….

Well, at least the dog ALWAYS ALWAYS survives.