I first heard the term “life verse” when it was used by my 7th grade youth pastor. His was I John 3:18, “Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and the truth.” It’s a good one, and something that at 24 years old I still have memorized. And I’ve found that life verses are really quite a popular thing, especially with youth pastors. I think it’s because their kids remember them, even years later.
Last year, when I was taking a class at a local Bible college, the teacher was talking about life verses and how a youth pastor he knew had a very unique life verse. The kids in his youth group would ask this youth pastor what his life verse was, and he would tell them Genesis 38:9. The kids would go look it up, and come back very puzzled. Here’s what they read: ”But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went into his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother.” (Here’s the whole chapter for context.) The poor kids who had the courage to ask their youth pastor why he picked that verse would get this stern warning, “Finish what you start.”
I think this youth pastor is a genius. And really, that’s the whole point of Finish Year, so in the spirit of Genesis 38:9 (ew…) here’s the progress I’ve made so far:
Finish SNAP application
Find another source of income: Got unemployment sorted out. Sent email for the sub list; still waiting to hear about it. Made fliers, letters, memos to get more students to tutor.
Finish and stick to budget: Budget is made and being enforced. One-ish months in, so far so good.
Apply to Grad School: Application to Western Seminary is almost done! Three short essays left!
Record an album: Talked with Christian. Trying to find time to play music together. Not a lot of progress here yet.
Read 52 books and review them: 17 books read and 11 reviewed! I’m on page 59 of 242 in Wild At Heart (re-read), 59 of 192 in The Other Walk (this is my first book of essays, and it’s slow going), and 62 of 232 in One Thousand Gifts.
Finish quotes powerpoint: I added a few backgrounds once I figured out how to do that. I haven’t spent a ton of time on this one.
Recruit 5 more students to Lifepoint: This goal is kind of in limbo right now. I’m not sure what direction my life is going, so it’s hard to devote much to this goal.
Blog post 6 days a week: Only 8 posts left for March.
Psalms Journal: 1-12 done.
Finish Year-Week 6
Find another source of income: Got unemployment sorted out. Sending email tomorrow to get on the sub list.
Finish and stick to budget: Budget is made and being enforced.
Record an album: Talked with Christian. Trying to find time to play music together.
Read 52 books and review them: 12 books read and 8 reviewed! I’m on page 34 of 192 in The Other Walk and 377 of 417 in Extras.
Finish quotes powerpoint: I added a few backgrounds once I figured out how to do that. (Stupid Keynote)
Recruit 5 more students to Lifepoint: I won’t know what next year looks like until early summer. In the meantime I’m trying to re-group and figure out how to market the program.
Blog post 6 days a week: All but 3 posts for February and half of March is complete.
Psalms Journal: 1-7 done.
Finish Year-Week 4
Find another source of income: Got unemployment sorted out. Still working on getting on the sub list.
Finish and stick to budget: (Same as last week) I have made a projected budget, and really need the other source of income to pay bills. In the meantime, I don’t spend money.
Record an album: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Read 52 books and review them: 10 books read and 8 reviewed! I’m on page 14 of 192 in The Other Walk and 29 of 188 in Abba’s Child.
Finish quotes powerpoint: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Recruit 5 more students to Lifepoint: (Same as last week. Resisting the urge to start planning next year right now.) Discussed what next year will look like with administrator and am still waiting to hear whether I will be teaching in the 6-12 school or tutoring in the charter. Should hear this week!
Blog post 6 days a week: So far so good. I will work on February tomorrow.
Psalms Journal: 1-5 done.
Finish Year-Week 3
Finish SNAP application
Find another source of income: Got unemployment sorted out. Still working on getting on the sub list.
Finish and stick to budget: (Same as last week) I have made a projected budget, and really need the other source of income to pay bills. In the meantime, I don’t spend money.
Record an album: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Read 52 books and review them: 6 books read and reviewed! I’m on page 93 of 140 in Follow Your Calling, 255 of 380 in Prague Counterpoint, and 21 of 224 in Start Something That Matters.
Finish quotes powerpoint: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Recruit 5 more students to Lifepoint: (Same as last week. Resisting the urge to start planning next year right now.) Discussed what next year will look like with administrator and am still waiting to hear whether I will be teaching in the 6-12 school or tutoring in the charter.
Blog post 6 days a week: Queue is loaded up with the rest of January and half of February. Slowly adding to queue.
Psalms Journal: 1-3 done.
Finish Year-Week 2
Finish SNAP application: Done! Will pick up card Tuesday.
Find another source of income: Called unemployment several times, and the line was busy each time. Will keep trying. Talked to band director friend about sub list, and we will schedule a meeting with his administrator this week to get me on the list.
Finish and stick to budget: (Same as last week) I have made a projected budget, and really need the other source of income to pay bills. In the meantime, I don’t spend money.
Record an album: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Read 52 books and review them: 4 books read and reviewed! And I’m on page 248 of 311 of Love At Absolute Zero.
Finish quotes powerpoint: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
Recruit 5 more students to Lifepoint: (Same as last week. Resisting the urge to start planning next year right now.) Discussed what next year will look like with administrator and am waiting to hear whether I will be teaching in the 6-12 school or tutoring in the charter.
Blog post 6 days a week: Queue is loaded up with January and half of February. Slowly adding to queue.
Psalms Journal: Didn’t work on this goal this week.
