Staring Right at 62

So many things go through your head when you approach a major birthday. Once upon a time, many considered 62 as the age to retire early. Yet, in many ways, I feel as if I am just getting started. I must admit, though, that the years have affected me in many ways. Just today I found myself sitting in a doctor’s office to get checked out due to an injury that I had the day before. Yep, even after making a similar maneuver (many many times) while mowing my yard, I had a misstep and fell backwards onto a concrete culvert at the corner of my yard. Ouch! I’m banged up and scraped and the right shoulder is not good… but the hope is that I only have some strained tendons or ligaments, not a torn rotator cup.

Ok, injured or not (and I’ll be OK), I felt compelled to write this little article and share a few random photos from the past. If you happen to want to know the story that accompanies a photo, shoot me a message or ask me directly if you are a local. Some of them are obvious and some are a bit of a mystery 🙂

So, as I stare into the eye of my 62nd birthday, here are a few thoughts that have cycled through my mind this week (so far). FYI, my actual birthday is July 28th – this Thursday. Now, onto my ramblings:

At my age, I remember using a 8-track tape player in my car, a 1968 Dodge Coronet w/ a slant-6 engine… yeah, that one. Now, I can play hundreds of songs off a micro-SD card via Bluetooth or in the car stereo itself.
At my age, I remember when we got our first color TV, air conditioner, and having our street paved for the first time. Now, the street is crumbling in certain places and we have a new central HVAC unit that works wonders… and, a 50″ Google TV (by TCL).
Heh, I remember when people in church services were prompted by the Holy Spirit to stand or clap, not through the urging of the worship leader. Don’t bristle too much my brothers, you know it’s true.
I remember helping my dad plant and maintain a nice sized garden in our back yard with a push-plow. Fortunately, a real gas powered tiller came a little later. Now, the old garden is more like a jungle than the show place that it once was. Long story.
I remember the first time I looked out across the Mediterranean Sea. It was from the farthest tip of North Africa. Many years later, I was blessed to see that same sight from the southern tip of Greece (on the opposite side). It was certainly beautiful from both angles.
I recall, as a young lad, going fishing with my dad and granddad and hearing Granddaddy tell me a story about how eating catfish and drinking milk at the same time would kill you. He was old and feeble, but still had a twinkle in his eye when he said it. My father had that same twinkle in his eye until cancer took his health and I watched him go on to be with Granddaddy for a special heavenly homecoming.
Lately – again – I took inventory of the footprints I have left in this life. The devil always brings up the worldly items that I may have missed fulfilling along the way, but the Holy Spirit reminds me of the spiritual blessings I have experienced through the years as a child of the King. People, just kick the devil in the teeth and smile. Put stock in the eternal.
I remember the first time that I saw my wife at a mutual friend’s home and realizing that she was a beautiful addition to my little Humboldt world. Now, we are still together and have traveled the world trying to serve the Lord in ways that we never dreamed about in the younger carefree days of our youth.
I am richly blessed by having the opportunity to lead my wife, son, and daughter to Christ. There is really nothing to add to that statement. I am blessed.
I recall in the days of my youth, hearing racial slurs uttered in the pulpit (various places). I was a lost soul at the time, but even then I knew it sounded wrong and it tweaked my spirit. Today, I am grateful for a heart that is open and welcoming to people from different nationalities, races, and creeds. I can honestly say that I have friends who happen to be from white to black and most every shade of skin-tone in-between. The banner over us is Love. Amen.
When I was young, I was often told that God no longer works through signs and wonders and miracles. As I’ve gotten older and settled in my faith, I can tell you that that is not true, at least in my personal experience. You might be shocked to discover that many of the stories and assurances about modern day manifestations of the supernatural part of who God is came from Baptist missionaries. Oh, I have stories to tell.