Growing Old

Scripture

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
    or his children begging for bread.

~Psalm 37:25, ESV

Quote

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.”

~Robert Browning

I want to take one line out of Psalm 37:25 and focus on it: “I have been young and now I am old.” Keep in mind that David wrote this and he died at age 70 which I don’t consider to be that old, but it was in his day. What amazes me about the aging process is how quickly a life time can pass. I have been preaching since 1968 and was ordained in August of 1969. If my math is right that is 57 years in the ministry. I graduated high school in 1967 so next year will be number 60 since graduation. I graduated college and got married in August of 1971. I have been on staff at DBC since April of 1979 either as interim, pastor, or associate pastor. I think that equals 47 years. I have noticed lately that all my old friends are aging. They have a hard time getting around and especially up and down. When you get old, you don’t get down in the floor to play with the little ones without an exit plan. Getting up has become a process. I am a fall risk every day of my life. My brain tells me my right foot is up and it is not which can cause you to trip.

The big thing on my mind lately is how quickly a life time passes. I know I should be meditating on scripture but I find myself meditating of the incredible brievity of life. When I came to Danville, Joe, Johnny and myself were all in our 20’s {I was 29}. Now we are in our 70’s as soon as John Harold has his next birthday. It seems like yesterday that we were playing basketball and going ninety to nothing. The point is: TIME FLIES! A life time is like a watch in the night or a shift at NUCOR. I tell folks, I went to bed young and woke up old. It happened so quickly. Did I say, I have made a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of time. Wasting time is a sin. Jesus never wasted a minute, so my first piece of advice is…

• Don’t waste time; we don’t have that much.
• Be respectful to old folks; they know they are old but it doesn’t help when you rub it in. Remember, you may get old yourself or you may not: the LORD may take you early for making fun of old folks.
• Be content with what you have: don’t waste your time fretting about what you don’t have.
• Focus on relationships, not riches. You should know by now, unless you are dim witted, that you cannot keep earthly possessions. They go back to the original owner. What a shame it is to see and old person live like a miser as they try to accumulate more. It is a huge WASTE of time.
• Remember the words of C.S. Lewis…“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” In other words, live until you die. Some folks quit living long before they die.
• Read Psalm 92:14…They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green. Be full of sap like ole Gregg who has a “BIG TIME, all the time.”

Extra

Forgot to mention that a sign of aging is going to COLS’s and to doctors every week and now a days, there is a different doctor for each problem. They will work on one part of your body but not the whole. Going to Madison today to see about right shoulder and rotator cuff and bone spur.

More rain yesterday. We got .9 in 41 minutes and strong wind to boot. Keith got my A/C installed and I had to cut it off about 3:00 because I had a headache from the air hitting my face.

I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

Homework: How many years did George Beverly Shea work with Billy Graham. How many songs that Shea sang at the crusades did he write himself? Where was he from? Was he a Southern Baptist? How old was he when he departed this world? Where is his grave?