it's all there

as 2006 began i started jotting down my goals for the year - read 25 books, love jayla (my wife) in new and exciting ways, visit at least two countries i've never been before, spend deliberate quality time every day with asher (my son), go on at least two backpacking trips of three days or more, lose 13 pounds, cut back on sweets, become actively involved in a social action movement, visit amsterdam, rewrite my mission statement - this last one, this one is important to me. My mission statement is the second great guiding force in my life. first, Jesus. second, the mission statement.

of course, much of my mission statement, in fact, all of my mission statement is based on biblical foundation and each line is backed by verses and passages from the holy word. this is nothing new.

i sat there looking at my mission statement, reviewing it, pondering over it, deliberating over the pluses and minuses of each line item in my statement. my mission document contains such things as to serve God every day, to grow in the knowledge of Christ, to love and honor my wife, to teach my children in the ways of Christ, to never lie cheat or steal, to give thanks for all that i experience, to be content in where i am, etc...

i like it.

then i read colossians. right there in colossians 1, verses 10 through 20, i found a nother mission statement, one preached by the apostle paul. though general and not tuned exactly to the specifics of my own, how i can i not take it for my own. it is real. it is beautiful. it is clear.

Colossians 1:10-20

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

well, that about sums it up. perfect.