1. Lose 50 pounds
2. Write a Book
3. Earn additional income

Identifying your goals is an important first step, but it is not the final one. While these are good they are either not specific enough or not actionable actionable.

Let's work these until we have something we can use. We need to take these and make some SMART goals. Here is how we define SMART goals.

Specific: A Clear Unambigiuous Statement

Measureable: How Do We Quanitfy Success

Actionable: How Will The Goal Be Achieved

Realistic: Is It Attainable

Time-bound: What Is The Timeframe

Time-bound

So what do we do with our first goal? We can start with the time-bound part. These are the goals for year 41. so we will start this way.

In 365 days...

Realistic

Next we need to have a realistic goal that is still challenging. This is where the amount of pounds lost will be listed. With an expectation of 1-2 pounds lost per week 50 pounds makes sense.

... I will have lost 50 pounds.

Specific Measurable Actions

I am combining these three because it makes sense in this context.

This will be achieved through tracking calories (1920/day) and exercise(3x/week).

Put It Together

Goal #1

In 365 days I will have lost 50 pounds by eating 1920 calories per day and exercising 3 times per week.

Goal #2

In 365 days I will have written a novel of at least 50,000 words by participating in National Novel Writing Month and writing at least 1700 words per day.

Goal #3

In 365 days I will have created another stream of income. This stream will generate an additional $500 throughout the year. This income will be generated through speaking and advertising revenue.

Prayer is unique to humans.
Prayer is the highest spiritual activity.

Pray in moments of joy

”Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever...” - Psalms‬ ‭136:1-26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Pray in moments of distress

“...Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” - ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭107:23-28‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Prayer should be persistent, tenacious

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart..." - ‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:1-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“...I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” - Luke‬ ‭11:5-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Prayer should be simple and humble

“... For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke‬ ‭18:10-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Lord's Prayer shows our prayer focus

”Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” - Matthew‬ ‭6:9-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• God - "Our Father..."
• His Kingdom - "Your Kingdom Come..."
• His Glory - "Your Will Be Done..."
• Our Need For His Forgiveness - "Forgive our debts..."
• Our Need For His Daily Support - "Our Daily Bread..."
• Our Need For His Daily Deliverance - "Lead Us Not into Temptation..."

The Early Church was be marked by Prayer

”And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” - Acts‬ ‭2:42‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Prayer deepens or faith in Christ and increases our our appreciation in God's Love

”For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” - Ephesians‬ ‭3:14-19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I got this image in my inbox today and got a chuckle out of it as I do with most XKCD comics. I came back to it about about an hour later and thought about what I would write to my future self now. I did the opposite exercise back on my old blog. I'll have to dig through the archives to link to it.

There is something appealing in pointing an arrow into the future. When I was much younger, early teens I think, I wrote a list of things that I wanted to achieve before I graduated college. The list included things like, get published, start a company, work in video games, learn to give massages, meet my wife amoung others. The funny thing is that I completed most of those of them before graduation and had completed all of them before proposing to my wife.

After this I wrote a narrative of what I thought life would look like for my wife and in 15 years. We are coming up on year 15 and many of those milestones have come to pass. The pastor one was not even on my radar back then, but isn't that how God works.

So what would I share with Future Carlton? Much that I would share with Past and Present Carlton as well as my children.

Stop Being Afraid

There really isn't any reason for it and there isn't really any value to it. The pain of failure is nothing compared to the pain of missed oppurtunity.

Plan, Prepare and Execute

One of the best ways to defeat the monster of fear is to prepare now and then charge ahead. Course correct as needed. Before you know it you will be closer to that goal then you were when you started.

I'll be taking some time to think about Future Carlton and what I want to say to him. For you dear readers I leave you with a poem by Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils fame.

The Monster Named Fear

We all grown up with dreams of what we can be. In the playground shwing off our talents for all to see.

Anything's possible when you are laughing in school. For Instance: A ballet-dancing prodigy sounds prety cool.

How about a rockstar in a band? Or maybe a tennis pro with a killer backhand.

There's this one girls who makes you laugh till you cramp.
And another who wants to be World Wrestling Champ!

But the road to those dreams are filled with dangers. Obstacles in the way: Parents, Teachers and even some Strangers. Most mean well but some are just mean trolls shouting at you, they're downright obscene.

"*It's never gonna happen."

"You're so gonna fail."

"Why don't you just quit?"

"No! No! No!"

That's all they scream

"You can't do that..."

"It's an Impossible Dream"

But there's something worse than those doubters, you'll find killing more dreams than all of them combined.

It gets bigger and bigger crushing your soul unill it breaks free and goes out of control.

Your enemy speaks, its vice strong and clear. "Hi, pleased to meet you. My name is FEAR"

You smell a foul stench as it gets up realse close, scaly and slimy and disgutingly gross. But you're not bothered by all the mucus and goo, what's most disturbing is the thing sounds like you.

"I'm all of your fears and all of your stress. I'm your fear of the spotlight and fear of success.

"Fear of embarrassment and not enough training. I'm what scares you the most, I'm the fear of you failing!"

Some spend their whole lives running from fear, even when they have friends who support them and cheer. They get gobbles up and deveoured by the beast, their dreams turned to food for the monster to feast.

But don't worry too much, hope is not lost. Fear can be beaten if you are willing to pay the cost.

There are steps to take, steps that are essential. To make sure you don't live your life never reaching your potential.

You land the first blow when you decide to commit. Now it is time to mix hard work with a whole lot of grit.

Practice and practice the practice some more. Improve your craft even when it's a chore.

Get out of your comfort zone and you'll learn faster. You've got to be brave, don't let fear be your master. *. Those butterflies are normal you feel in your tummy. That's when you know fears there in the front row *sitting right next to mommy.

It takes time to get better, I know progress is slow. Just roll up your sleeve and keep giving it a go. And for those sitting at home, thinking it's too late. Fear can be beat no matter your birth date.

Practice and practice, then practice some more, after so many battles you'll be winning the war. Slowly but surely, you've faced fear head on. Now the beast is no more it's finally gone!

Oops, sorry. I lied, I must take that back. Fear never leaves, it's always waiting to attack. It's lurking up there inside of your head. Sometimes it comes back just when you thought it was dead.

But this time you're in charge. There's no need to fret, the fear is so small, it's no longer a threat.. Thanks to persistence and focus and much * follow through*, the monster has shrunk to the size of a shoe.

Fear's scary no more, not even a fright, 'cos you've put in the work night after night. Year after year and the end is in sight, now, at long last you're ready.

Time To Finish The Fight!

Get out there, dream and then execute my friends.

One thing we do know is that it is ok not to be fine.  We resolved that issue together years ago because we know that ultimately it is not in our hands anyway.  God has been so very faithful to us that even in our pain we can laugh because our God is bigger than all of it.  We also recognized our own privilege and that our issues are not nearly as large as the loom.

So I am praying for you dear reader.  That you would know the faithfulness of God even in your pain.  That you would seek Him first.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,     and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,     my salvation and my God. - Psalm 42:11 God's Man

Sometimes it just have to get done. Whether you FEEL like it or not.

Life is only lived in One Direction.

God's Man

God's Man

What problems did they face?  Among a variety of religious authorities espousing different teachings, how were they to know who was right?  How were men and women to be put right with God?  How could Christians in the midst of a pagan culture live lives truly pleasing to God?

Only one way, answered Paul, through Jesus Christ!  His answer holds true for us as well.  The details of our struggle have changed since those days, but the principles are timeless.

Using speaking excerpts from D. A. Carson here is a great look at what it means to be imitators.  H/T to Tim Chalies for posting this to his A-La Carte on 04 April.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  > You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. - 4:1-6Which System does it appeal to?  God’s System or the world Do those who are acknowledged mature agree?  Test it.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. - 4:7-9Does it point people towards Christ and his Love? This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. - 4:10-12Does it recognize his sacrifice on the cross? We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. - 4:13-16Does it recognize the Gospel?  God came as a man, Lived a Sinless life so that we sinners would have eternal fellowship with the Father. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. - 4:17-21Notice what it says here about Fear.  How can we experience this life without fear?  That leads us into Chapter 5. Chapter 5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - 5:1-5We Win.  Revelation! This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.  Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 5:6-12Spirit = Holy Spirit Water = Baptism
Blood = Cross
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. - 5:13-15Your Salvation ensures your access to God. Saved by Grace and we Walk By Faith
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. - 5:16-18You are no longer bound to sin.  You have strength to overcome in Christ Jesus You have the Holy Spirits prompting to convict and push you to repentance
Who God Calls He Protects
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. - 5:19-20You are Different and that is OK. What you have is worth a strange look?
Don’t you want to share it?
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. - 5:21I hope that this has spoken to you the same way that it did to me.  Let me know in the comment section what God has shared as you have read? 

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. - 1 John 3:19-24Talking a good game may get you past people for a time. Your ACTIONs will eventually reveal you.
Believe in the Son and love one another...
Those who follow the Son, follow the Father as the Son does
Those who DO the will of the Son, do the will of the Father.
Those who know the Son, know the Father
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. - 1 John 3:23-26What are you sharing with those you disciple?

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. - 1 John 3:7-10*The fruit of the seed that planted in us.  The Holy Spirit convicts us and drives us to repentance.*  ** Are you driven to your knees when you sin?  Do you even care?  Do Not be lead astray like those who indulge...Jesus destroyed the yoke of sin over us.  The kosmos/world system that we talked about last week is powerless over the life of the believer.  We just have to focus on God.When we do fall, repent, and refocusThis is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. - 1 John 3:11-14Do you love your Brother/Sister? Are you jealous of him/her?How you treat the family shows where your heart is? Is it all about you?  Are you Conceited or a Martyr? Don’t be surprised if the world hates you.  That is how it should be.  They hated Him, so why would you be any different?

The epistle, or letter, of 1st John is written to all of us in general and specifically to the church at Ephesus.  John is writing this as he nears the end of his life.  The Ephesian church is not that different from our own American church.  John speaks about the Ephesians in Revelation chapter 2 verse where he writes that “… You have forgotten your first love.”There are 4 issues that are impacting the church at Ephesus.1. An Easy Familiarity with Christ – The believers that John is writing to are the older children and younger Grandchildren of the believers that Paul met in Acts 19.  He spent 2 years with them and God lit a fire there.  The issue is that over time the intensity of the fire was being maintained.  This lead to a rejection of the High Standard…2. The High Standards that Christianity Sets – The church was called to be set apart.  They were called to be different.  They would be hated for that difference.  The church had begun to reject this.  They didn't “really” want to be different.  They wanted to be liked.  The church was not in danger of be persecution.  It was in danger of being changed.3. Seductions/Threats from the Inside – This came and fulfilled the warning that Paul left to the Ephesians in Acts 20:29-30, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.”  The thought was to improve it. Give it intellectual respectability. Make it sound like popular philosophy.4. Gnosticism – This came out of popular culture of Rome at the time.  The Gnostic elevated the spirit over the body.  In fact they despised it.  The spirit was planted in this dirty soil.  The Gnostic hoped to overcome the evil in the body.  Stoics, Freedom through denial/willpower and the Epicureans, Freedom ultimately through Indulgence.This is the backdrop on which this letter is painted. Over the last 8 days I have been sharing my notes from when I was studying through this book. Consider these quick hits.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. > How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. - 1 John 2:29 - 3:3

* Should be NOT Will be.  It is what we are not what we are becoming! * We are different because He was different. * All will be revealed when He returns.  We will be like Him.  We will not be Him but we will be like Him * We strive to be hagios/holy because we believe in Him.  It is not an oppressive weight.  It is a privilege.> **Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. - 1 John 3:4-6

* The Law was never meant to save.  It was there to reveal men’s sins.   * Sin shows how much we need Him.  He takes away the sins of the world.   * If we find ourselves stuck in continuous sin we should examine ourselves.