Not Just Another Year

What makes this year different than last?

As I think about it, in all my 40+ years, they are all just about the same; New Years, Valentines, Easter, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. All of the holidays, school, seasons, family, friends, work, and life goes on… It is so easy to let a year slip by and miss the ride altogether.

Every year during the month of January I prayerfully reassess life and commit to make the current year the best possible. Now that does not mean that I avoid the bumps and bruises of life. No, in fact I often find more than most. Usually because I push the edges of possibility, live with passion and enthusiasm, vibrantly share my faith and life with friends and family. I choose to pursue life and not wait for it to find me. I choose to listen for God’s voice and bravely act on things that others think irrational or impossible. Sometimes it is as simple as that, to choose rather than to wait for what you are handed.

Here are a list of some of the things that I consider each year:

• Education – What do I want to add to my base of knowledge?
• Health – What do I need to do to honor God with my body?
• Work – What could God have in store, and how can I seek it faithfully?
• Relationships – How can I offer myself as a friend and support to others?
  • Do I need to adjust time or prioritize differently?
• Faith – What disciplines can I work on more?
  • What do I need someone to hold me accountable for?
• Fun – What hobbies, crafts, interests can I develop?
• Adventure – Think bucket list, what haven’t I done that I want to?
  • What may be life threatening, but makes me feel totally alive?

Here is a list of Goals I have set for myself, family, and ministry in 2015:

• Education – Read 2 books/month, attend conference on evangelism, study Spanish for mission trip
• Health – Personal weight goals, run & condition 3 times per week, run 3 mud races
• Work –
  • JROL – attendance +50%, 5 new small groups, door knocking
  • Hopkins – Attendance +50%, learn community
• Relationships – Nathan’s graduation, date night, family trip, church friendships
  • Always be open to the people and God moments that just appear
• Faith – Fasting discipline, daily prayer and devotion, share my faith daily with one person.
• Fun – Special Stained Glass project, write 3 songs
• Adventure – Hang-gliding, spelunking, base jumping (2017?), hiking & fly-fishing CO,
  • Find the best “hole in the wall” restaurants

My Challenge:

• Don’t settle for just another year.
• Choose to make 2015 better than every year previous.
• Make a list of goals and ask a friend to hold you to them
• Place God at the forefront

Life is a gift. Each day, month, and year is an opportunity to push ourselves, and live new dreams. Don’t allow contentment to stifle your life. Instead live vibrantly in all that you do; be Christ in Community, and let others see the Spirit of God alive in you.

Pastor Craig Ferguson

The Stress of it All!

I just don’t know how I can face tomorrow!!!

That is how the day starts and ends for many people; our friends, neighbors, or family members. Depression, anxiety, mood swings, and stress are a part of our everyday life. In our present economic situation stress is a part of every persons life, we can’t avoid it. With elections just past, we realize that there was stress leading up to them, and a new stress coming out of them. With jobs, families, finances, church, friends, there is stress of all sorts.

I recently attended a CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management Seminar) in training for a position as a Chaplain of the Fire and Police Departments of Johnston. Of course these public servants do come into contact with some very serious events that can be stressful and it is important for them to have some form of debriefing process to go through. In fact we too often take their difficult services for granted and do not say “thank you” enough for the positions we as civilians put them in.

Thank you to all of you public servants, and military personnel who put your lives on the line to protect and serve, and to keep us safe when we put ourselves in harms way – accidental or not. And we want you health – physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so don’t be afraid to talk to someone when the stress seems to much. It does not mean you are weak, it means you are human.

On the civil side of reality we all experience stress of some kind. There is such a thing as cumulative stress on people that grows out of our everyday life experiences and it can be just as debilitating as the stress of a critical incident. This is stress that you get at work when you aren’t getting along with coworkers; at home when you have a marital dispute, when you move, when you change jobs, when you have a health problem, or so many other possible situations.

Some of you may find yourselves carrying more stress than you are able to carry. Some may think that the rope is ready to snap. If that is the case, I encourage you, don’t wait until it does. There are people out there who care deeply about you. There are people who will listen. They will not judge you or your situation, they just want to help you find the balance to your life again.

If you feel that way, and don’t know where to go, please contact me. Whether you are in the same city or state with me it doesn’t matter. Where ever you are, I will help you find someone to talk to. Here is a contact page for Iowa:

Iowa Critical Incident Stress Management Network – with a list of contact phone numbers for every county in Iowa