Lee family retreat

Every year around Jan 1, Sandy and I go away for at least a night for our family retreat. We spend a good chunk of time alone with God and then we start evaluating what God has done in the past year in our individual lives, in our marriage, in our parenting and in our kids. We answer questions like:

• What were the 2 best and hardest things about the year and what did God teach us through them?
• Did we meet our goals from last year? In what way were they beneficial?
• What did I appreciate about my spouse this year?
• How did Peter lead Sandy this year? And how did Sandy submit to Peter this year?
• What did I learn about myself as a parent and how can I improve?
• How well did we use our money last year?
• What did we learn about each child? What character goals should we set for them?

It is a fabulous time that gets richer and richer every year. It started in 1999 with a 1 page agenda. Now, I'm up to 7. I had about 3 goals in 1999. Now, I have 3 categories of goals that span 2 pages. As our family has grown, so has the Lee family retreat.

It is so easy for me to get complacent with my spiritual life and the leadership of my family. It is so easy to busy myself with the things of this world and to react to life instead of proactively leading my family with a spiritual mindset. This retreat helps us spiritually re-focus on what GOD is doing in our lives and how we can glorify Him.

One of my goals this year is to read 12 books. To some of you, that may not sound like much. But my natural inclination is to workout, play sports, or watch sports, not read. It seems odd that a pastor does not enjoy reading, but that's me. I read a ton in seminary because I had to, not because it was my first choice. So it's been a process for me to train myself to read more. And by God's grace, I have been. Last year was a banner year, I think I read 7 books. Normally, I think I read 1 or 2. This year, I thought I'd bump that up to 12.

Why 12? Well, I was reading in a blog from a guy who read some 80 books last year that it is a good idea to read different types of literature. It helps you read more; it helps you get more out of what you read; it helps you think and write better too. In the past several years, I have pretty much just been reading Christian personal growth or Christian ministry books. So I decided to try out some variety this year and read the following different types of books:

• 2 biographies
• 2 history books
• 1 Christian fiction
• 1 book by a Puritan author
• 2 Christian personal growth books
• 2 Christian ministry books
• 2 Re-reads

In full self-disclosure, I am reading 2 books I have already read because I forget what I read and these are 2 books with content I need to keep reminding myself of constantly. And some of the books I have already started. But my goal is to finish 12 books in 2009. I am excited to keep track of them on this blog too. We'll see how it goes.
PS - Do you like the new look? I thought I'd try my hand at a fresh blog design for the new year.