This morning in my message I refered to my Life Action Plan that I created this past November.  I thought I'd post a copy here in case you wanted to download a template you might use to create your own Life Action Plan.

Today Mark Batterson had a short little post about an upcoming vision series and fast he is leading his church through. He titled it, "Vision Fast"...that title got me thinking. 

I think too many of us fast vision.  We simply stop consuming God's vision for our lives.

How many churches have been doing business as usual...worship, Sunday school, youth ministry, children's ministry, missions...and fasting vision?

How many individuals have been settling for working in a job to just pay the bills, and fasting vision?

How many marriages have been staying together for the kids or economic reasons, and fasting vision?

How many teenagers have been following the crowd, and fasting vision?

What would happen if we'd actually fast from mediocrity and step up the fliet mignon of God's vision for our churches, our families and our lives?

What vision for your life, your church, or your family have you been fasting from?

Okay, so it's the first day of 2010.  One decade has come to an end and a new one has been birthed.

I've lived three full decades, and half of another.  I've spent my decades the following ways:

Yesterday, I shared about some of the Bibles that I find helpful in my quiet time.  Today, I'd like to share some of the journaling tools that I use on a regular basis.

Reading the Bible is a great thing, but unless it moves you towards application/action you're missing out on what God is trying to do in your life.  Journaling helps me to apply and take action on what I've read in Scripture.

Here are some of the tools I've found helpful in journaling.

Yesterday, I shared several Bible Reading Plans for 2010.  Today, I want to provide you with some of the tools that I find helpful when studying the Bible during my daily study and prayer time.  Tomorrow, I'll share some of the tools I use to take notes and journal during my quiet time.

But about 3 months ago, I realized that I was better at planning for my church than I was for my own life.

So I gave myself the gift of a day away to consider how I was doing in some key areas: Spiritually, Physically, Relationally, Financially, and some other areas.

Some of the tools I used in this day retreat, I discovered through a great blog post by Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing).

Michael's post does a great job describing the process of retreating for a day of reflection and links to a great tool to help guide your planning.

Here's a copy of the tool. I also include his original post as a part of the tool to make it easier to use.

I encouraged our congregation at BridgeWay to give themselves 1 day in the next 2 weeks to work through this tool.

If you take that challenge, or if you read this and take the time to work through this template let me know.

I'm already seeing some great things happen as a result of using this tool, and I'd love to hear from you if you find it helpful.