2009 = Change (No Not Obama)

2009 has been a year of change in my personal life, and no, Obama has not been the cause of this change.

In a year's time I have changed the career direction in my life from doing sports ministry to doing church media.

More after the jump...

No longer am I planning on doing sports as a full-time vocation in ministry. Of course the keyword in that sentence is "planning." As I have found out this past year, God can change His plans whenever He wants and sometimes those plans may not be our plans.

Another change in my life in 2009 has been the act of reading.
Up until the beginning of this year I have loathed reading books. In fact, I would go so far as to say that before this year I hadn't read a whole book since sophomore year of high school (yes you heard me right, it has been about 5 years).

Then one of my friends made a bet with me, that I couldn't read a whole book in one month. There were no stipulations behind the bet, so I don't know why I took it so seriously, but I did nonetheless. Believe it or not, I finished the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan in the month of January, and since that time I have read 4 books in their entirety. A feat that I never thought I would complete in my lifetime. You can find the whole list of books I have read here: http://goodreads.com/jburno

As a consequence, I have actually come to like reading books, and I have learned so much from the books I have read (imagine that).

I don't want to overwhelm you with the length of this post, so I think I'll split it up into multiple parts.

Look for more changes in the coming posts.

What changes have taken place in your life in 2009?

Doubts Are Good?

Do you ever have doubts?
Doubts about what you are doing?
Doubts about what you are planning on doing in the future?
Doubts that what you are doing is actually making a difference?
Doubts that what you are doing is actually having an impact on someone's life?

More after the jump...

Sometimes I have these doubts.
Some of you may know that I have decided to pursue a different career field than what I had originally planned on when I started college. I have been evaluating that decision to make sure that my motives are pure, and that it is what God wants me to do. I have been asking myself these questions, and it has been really beneficial.
Sometimes one just assumes that doubting has a negative connotation, but sometimes it is the exact opposite. Doubting in this situation has actually caused me to somewhat solidify my decision, and for right now I do believe that what I have chosen to do has the capability of making a difference. Now I must examine it even further to ensure that it is making a difference, and if it isn't then how can I cause it to make a difference? These are the next questions that I will be thinking about.

So a word of encouragement, if you are having doubts about something, don't let them affect you in a negative way. Instead seek to answer the questions that you are asking, and chances are your doubts will be erased, hopefully for the positive.