Methodology

Reading books is helpful, but remembering and putting into practice what you’ve learned are equally important. There’s no sense in learning something but not applying it (especially true when it comes to the Bible, see Luke 11:28). I’ve struggled for a long time to figure out the best way to track things I’ve read and store the life-changing pieces of text to reference later and continue to apply. I love what John Piper says about sentences. What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this:It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%. Well-written sentences that deliver a thought in a new way can change the trajectory of your life. Here’s my process of maximizing a book’s impact, making sure I remember (and apply) the 1% of the book that was most significant (and any percent beyond that is just gravy). ...

It’s a bit late to post a blog about goals for the year if you’re trying to figure out new year’s resolutions, but it’s definitely not too late if you’re just curious about what I’m striving toward this year. Read 52 books This is lofty, but I’m on pace so far at a book per week. I nearly hit 40 books last year, so I think it’s attainable. Living overseas helps in the sense that there are less relational opportunities (because I’m an extrovert but my old age is transforming me into an introvert). Study 12 books of the Bible Niki and I are doing this together. One book of the Bible each month. We’ve never read the Bible on a reading plan together, so it’s been a joy to share insights with each other as we go. We tried to plan so we had a mix of Old Testament and New Testament along with different types of books. I normally read two to four chapters each day, and go through the book as many times as I can. ...

I love hearing about what other people are reading, so I wanted to do unto others as I would have them do unto me–share books I’m hoping to read. There are now hundreds of thousands of books published every year In a world of information abundance, I hate picking up a book that isn’t worth my time. Here are the topics I’m most interested in: Jesus Marriage Stewardship Discipleship Leadership Theology Missiology Exegesis Christian Living Biography Here’s this year’s partial list. I’m sure I won’t read all of these books, and there are others I’ll likely come across and pick up instead of some listed below. I’ve listed the book title and author and they’re sorted by category. If you want to find the list on Amazon organized by title, click here. ...

During our pre-marital counseling, our pastor shared a key question that has changed nearly every relationship in my life. The question is simple. Am I believing the best about this person? When someone shows up late to a meeting. When the dishes aren’t done. When the trash smells and hasn’t been taken out. When you haven’t heard from someone in ages. When your emails go without a response for weeks. When something is said that cuts to your core. It’s incredible what the benefit of the doubt does in a relationship. ...

Valentine’s day is fast approaching. That means a whole bunch of guys are going to propose the same day as every other guy on the planet. Please, please don’t do that. Any day but February 14th. Nevertheless, dudes are notoriously not creative when it comes to popping the question. I can’t say I have a lot of experience in proposing since it’s a one-time thing for me, but our experience was pretty spectacular. Here’s my version of our engagement to show I’m qualified to give you insight: it started with a scavenger hunt in Athens, OH and ended 30 hours later on a beach in Fort Myers, FL. If you want the full details from Niki, here’s her perspective. People we didn’t know heard about the story somehow and we would randomly overhear them talking telling their friends about it in coffee shops and college hallways. I didn’t imagine it would be that remarkable, but nonetheless, she said “Yes!” That’s the end goal, right? So, gentleman, feel free to take notes, and ladies, please feel free to pass this along to your man if he needs some tips if the P-Day is drawing near. ...

Naturally, my life is as organized as an elementary school recess: lots of frantic running around, falling down, and then calling it quits once the bell rings for the day. Since I have a tendency to forget and lose things, I’ve had to train myself to spend my time more wisely. I have by no means mastered it. Time is a wild beast that can’t ever be perfectly tamed. I’ve come up with a system to hack myself a bit and make sure I’m accomplishing the most important things, which is ultimately the goal of time management. 1. Do the most important thing first, every day. Each morning I commit to reading the Bible before anything else. I’m trying to kick the habit of catching up on 100+ tweets when I wake up since I’m 6 hours ahead of most of the people I follow. I get distracted, start reading articles, and start thinking and reading and favoriting and linking and then my morning is blown. So, I’ve started jumping out of bed, throwing a pot of coffee on and cracking open the Word. ...

I can’t help but tell everyone I know about things I love. It makes being a missionary easier, to be sure. There are also some great, relatively inexpensive things I own that I want the world to know about. These items are so well designed they can’t help but bring a smile to your face when they actually do what they’re supposed to do. Contigo Water Bottle – ~$11 I’ve gone through a plethora of different water bottles (mostly because I lose them). I drink a ton of water, I’d guess nearly 100 oz a day (so yes, I pee constantly). So since I go to the well so often, I want to have a good canister. ...

Reading is one of my favorite ways to spend my free time. One of my least favorite things is making it partially through a book not worth finishing. Here are two handfuls of books worth finishing in 2013. 10. [More Than Enough by Dave Ramsey ][1] I’m a self-diagnosed Dave-oholic. The principles Dave teaches in his courses, books and radio program are spot on. This is one of his shorter books, but it’s still chock full of lots of solid principles on money management. His philosophy, managing money God’s way, will flip your financial world right-side up. ...

I love budgeting. Three words you don’t normally hear from a 23-year-old guy. If you make it all the way through this monster post, I’m fairly certainly budgeting will start growing on you too. My wife Niki and I took the 13-week Financial Peace University course by Dave Ramsey and decided to put a budget into action when we got married. We’ve been following it faithfully for the last 7 months, and it’s been unbelievably freeing. ...

Results show that over thirty days with no change in diet and no exercise you can lose 20 pounds! What a delight! All we have to do is take a pill, make no changes in our life, and we can lose weight. Sign me up! Whether or not the claims we hear each day from every direction of the media are true, I think it highlights a problem much larger than obesity in our culture. ...