Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

With my birthday merely minutes away and 2009 coming soon, I wanted to take a second to look over the blessings of the last year and look forward to the next. This year was a busy one. At the end of last year we got the amazing news that Heather was pregnant and on August 15, Abigail Elyse Gold came into this world. She is now 4 months old and it’s been an amazing learning time both as a father and as a person. It’s amazing how selfish you realize you are when there is another human being that is dependent on you. 

Another blessing has been the fact that we are buying a house. If all goes well, the first week in January we will officially be homeowners! It’s been a crazy process beginning way back in February, be we super excited to be moving into a 3 bedroom 2 bath house. As many of you know, we had to move out of the house we were living in back in April because it had toxic mold in the basement. Since then we’ve been living in a 1 bedroom apartment that was o.k. until Abby was born. Then the walls began to slowly close in on us. Praise God that we are moving!

Finally, ministry has been great this past year. The highlight for me is to see a ministry that runs without me in many ways. It’s awesome to have a team of staff that can do ministry without me being there. 

2008 has been a great blessing and in 2009 I have a few goals that I’d like to share.

1. Read 26 books this year.

2. Lose 25 lbs.

3. Read the Bible everyday

4. Blog more

5. Watch less tv

I know those sound like random things, but I believe that if I accomplish those, it will make me a better husband, father, pastor and friend. So goodbye 2008, and hello 2009!

Steve Gold

Junior High Pastor

South Valley Community Church

(408) 848-2363 ext. 106

www.svccyouth.com

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Who's Your Timothy? Who's Your Paul?

S- But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. (2 Timothy 3:10)

O- Timothy knew the life, heart and passion of Paul, because he spent time with him and did ministry with him.

A- We all need a Timothy, we all need a Paul. We need someone who we are building into and someone who is building into us. I think that one of the biggest problems as a pastor that I face is that I have Timothys, I'm expected to and enjoy having Timothys. The problem comes when I don't have a Paul. I need someone who can not only speak into my life, but someone that I can do ministry and life with and who can speak into my life. Balance comes when we have people whose lives we are speaking into and are speaking into us. 

P- God, thank you for the people you've put into my life as my Timothys and Pauls. Help me to continue to seek these people out and guide me to lead and be led by them.

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It's All About Love

S- For the commandments say, ""You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet." These-and other such commandments-are summed up in this one commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law." (Romans 13:9-10)

O- Loving others is the answer to all the commandments. If you're loving others, you will be fulfilling many of the other commandments, because love does no wrong.

A- Many people spend so much time focusing on what laws and commandments they are following or not following. When we really look at the underlying intention of these commandments from God, we see love others as the theme. I need to be focusing less on rules and more on love and things will be good.

P- God, show me how to love others. I want to focus more on loving people, rather than focusing on commandments. When I do that, everything else falls into place. Thank you God for you blessings in my life.

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