Round The Ball: Lent – 2009

I’m making a daily list of some key discoveries, moments and all around favorites for 2008.  For today, these are some of the new personal practices or habits I’ve picked up this year that I most benefit from.  In no particular order:

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1) Keeping Track of Cash Expenses - We use cash way more here in London than we did in the US — and at the end of every month between the exchange rate and the wad of receipts in my wallet I had no clue where all the money was going.  After hearing a challenging sermon about money at our church (download the sermon by Rod Green here) I faithfully started recording nearly every cash expense no matter how small. Sounds like a pain but it’s a really easy habit to get into — and is such a better way to stick to a budget, track reimbursable expenses, and know what’s going on with our money.

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2) Downloading Sermon Podcasts – Okay, speaking of that sermon, this year I became something I sort of always ridiculed in the past: a bit of a sermon podcast junkie.  I’ve discovered that a long bus or train ride, or a quiet morning in the park on a day off is a great time to listen to some though provoking, soul-nourishing sermons preached at other churches whose pastors I respect.  Who did I listen to this year?  My tastes are eclectic, so don’t get mad: Jeramie Rinne at SSBC, Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill-Seattle, John Piper, Erwin McManus at Mosaic, Rob Bell, and the good folks at our very own Christ Church.

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 3) Inbox Zero - This is going to sound impossible and some of you won’t believe me because you’re still waiting for me to reply to something, but I’ve tried to incorporate the wisdom of a guy named Merlin Mann at 43Folders.com who suggests battling the inbox bulge down to zero every day.  How does he do it?  Click on the link above, (and watch the full video if you’re really interested) but it’s basically about immediately doing one of five things with every email: do it, delete it, defer it or delegate it.  Seriously, it works.

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 4) Backing Up – After a couple of heart-breaking and time consuming hard drive failures in 2007, we put an end to it and started aggressively backing up our data almost religiously every day.  I’ve gotten to the point where even when I’m on the road I back up to a small external hard drive just in case something happens to my laptop.  This routine was made dummy-proof and almost thoughtless with the addition of an ingenious invention by Apple – the Time Capsule, which backs up all the computers in your house wirelessly every hour of every day.  Now we will NEVER lose those precious pics of the munchkins again!

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 5) Carrying my Own Bags - Okay, I’m probably late in the game here, but in the land of cycling everywhere and pretty much stopping for groceries every day because we don’t have a car, those plastic bags at the grocery store really add up.  I got into the habit of carrying a simple little fold-out bag that fits loads of groceries in it nearly everywhere I go.  Mine is made by Flip and Tumble and is a very manly color of black and grey.  Good for the environment, easy on the shoulder and back, and brownie points with my wife.  Need I say more?

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 6) What Are You Thankful For? - This one’s a simple one but one of the best soul-nourishing ways we are raising our kids.  Basically, every night at the dinner table we go around the table and everyone has to share something they are thankful for from the day.  The kids give really great responses — little windows into what’s important in their worlds — and we find a way to reflect on the day, end it on a positive note, and remember our Creator and Provider in the process.

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 Got any life-changing personal practices you want to suggest for our 2009?  I’m all ears!