Aging With Grace

Scripture

Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green. 

~Psalm 92:14, TLB

Quote

The way we view the future sculpts our present: if our view of the future is weak, we live listlessly.

~Eugene Peterson

At a time [75 years old] when modern men would be slipping on their house shoes and getting ready to sleep themselves to death, Abraham set out on a mission trip. At eighty Moses was called to be the pastor of the Israelites. He had more than a million members and most of them were rebellious and obnoxious. Joshua and Caleb were still conquering new ground in their eighties and John wrote the REVELATION while in his nineties. So what is your excuse; I hope it not your age. At 46 I was still playing softball or at least trying. I played gut-and-groan basketball until I was 57 and the only reason I quit was I pulled a hamstring. Then I came down with something I had never heard of, phrenic nerve palsy, which affects the diaphragm of the lungs. He makes one extremely short of breath. This means I cannot run, jog or play any sports. When I play Ty in basketball, I can only go to 12 points and that is with me playing a zone. How can one man play zone? You just stand there and hope the opponent misses.

BUT I have more time to pray. The fact that I have less energy and breath encourages me to stay in my study and pray more than I’ve ever prayed in my life. I am not that good at praying: by that I mean I don’t seem to have that much prayer power but I do enjoy my time with the LORD and I love to praise HIM. I need to be very careful about the next statement: if it is a boast I will regret saying it but I’m going to take a chance. I am not sure that my last year has not been the best of my life. I have never enjoyed study and preaching more. The virus, which I think has been grossly over hyped and mishandled, has given me extra time with my grands and I have enjoyed them more than ever. I can no longer go at it like fighting fire, but I can still work at a slower pace and I can help others. June gets to go with me on a lot of my pastoral visits and that is a great help. She couldn’t do that when the kids were young or she was having to work. I can go on and on about the benefits of aging.

There are some problems but I can’t with good conscience register any complaints. To you younger folks {which is most of you}, my advice is to enjoy your health and don’t make fun of folks like me and Gregg. What you will discover as you age is that the body begins to wear out and certain necessary bodily functions need encouragement. Things that once worked naturally, cease to do so. The good news is that we old folks are one step closer to getting home and what lies before us is infinitely better than anything in our past.

I have an envelop for Joe David that I prepared years ago [in case of my physical death]. He brought it back to me this week for updating. There is a poem in the envelop in my hand writing but I do not know for sure that I wrote it. I did find a couple of misspelled words which makes me think it is mine but I am not sure.

I’ve had a good life; no complaints have I,

HIS grace is sufficient, HIS word is no lie!

I’ve made my share of mistakes, that I must confess,

I’ve learned from my failure that HIS was is best!

I want you to know in this last farewell,

That I love you all and I hope you could tell!

My last refrain will not be a dissonant cord,

To God be the glory–Jesus is LORD!

Joe David gave me a book by Ravi Zacharias and it is filled with stories and illustrations: one story is about the three professionals arguing over which profession was the oldest. First there was a doctor. He said, “We go back further than anyone, we were there to sew up Adam after God removed the rib.” Then the Engineer spoke up: “Sorry, we were there before that, the bible says ‘God framed the world out of chaos.” The third was a democratic congressmen, he said, “Sorry guys, we are the oldest. Who do you think caused the chaos.” [I did just a little editing, imagine that]

June told me this morning that people from Alabama are banded from going to New York. I said, “Good, does that mean they can’t come here.” What adjective would you use to describe the governments [State and Local] response to the virus? What about ridiculous, absurd, bizarre, goofy, foolish, preposterous, unbelievable, comical, contemptible, silly, harebrained, idiotic, insane, moronic or just plain stupid. I think they all are fitting but I guess “unbelievable” sums it up. Look for Hartselle to do something stupid like Decatur and Madison County. If I have to wear a mask, it will be a TRUMP 2020 mask.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

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