Happy 2008 to All!

I ended the Old Year and began the New Year sick :(

I'm still not over what I think is a pretty bad cold, but I feel well enough to sit up at the computer and type. I've set certain goals for the New Year, and my sickness has interfered with one of them already: daily exercise. As soon as I feel better, I will begin. The exercises I'm doing are simple, and to begin with, will be quite ineffective. They consist of 10 pushups, 10 stomach crunches, and 10 squats. Once I establish the habit of daily activity, I'll develop a more diverse and fat-burning/muscle-toning regimen. Baby steps...

Several other goals for this year:

Read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's online here. (Link fixed).

Blog the Bible. But only a little bit each day, like a verse or two. (The next entry will be my first Bible blog post). I've never really wrestled with the Scriptures, or really let them speak to me or challenge me. I've never faced up to some of the more challenging aspects of the Bible. Why, for example, does God allow for genocide in the Old Testament, killing even innocent babies in the conquest of Canaan? Ultimately this is not a challenge for me because, like Abraham, I trust the the Judge of the of all the earth will do right. (Genesis 18, read the whole chapter, but see verse 25 especially). The text I'm using is the New Authorized Version of the Third Millennium Bible. It's not a Catholic Bible, but a revision of the King James Version with the Deuterocanonicals and Apocryphal books. Also, I'll be following The Great Adventure reading plan (for the second year in a row). See my last post for more information on TGA.

Do a daily examen using the format I found on this web site last month. "The Beginner's Guide to a Life of Faith" would have been quite useful to me when I first joined the Church a few years ago. I hope many people find it helpful in their journey to the Church and in their walk with Christ.

And my last goal: write a little in my journal every day. I don't spend enough time reflecting on my life an dmy emotional states. Journaling will help correct some of that, I think.