On Turning Thirty-Seven

Well I turned thirty-seven this week. It is a pretty blah age really. There isn’t much to get worked up about. I probably would not have even thought much about it had my wife and children along with hundreds of Facebook friends not reminded me of it.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is a significant year in my life because of my family history, my calling, and my current family.

At the age of thirty-seven my dad had his first heart-attack. He got one in every three to four years after that and died at the age of forty-nine. My dad was not a healthy man and he lived hard. He was a truck driver, but he also was an ineffective entrepreneur, which meant he spent a lot of blood, sweat, and tears on ideas that never seemed to pan out. He was also a big smoker and overweight.

The morning after my thirty-seventh birthday I ran a 10k in fifty-three minutes at Kereiakes Park, which is not bad for a man fifteen pounds over his playing weight. I am planning on running a half-marathon in the spring. I am also going to focus on doing what I am called to care for and refuse to get stressed out, especially when I have such a loving God caring for me.

Speaking of my God, I hope to serve Him well this year. But I think I am no longer considered a young pastor. I have served Living Hope Baptist Church since I was twenty-eight years old. It is still astounding to me that God called me to serve such an amazing congregation. I love them so much. They have been so kind and gracious and patient with me. It is an honor to get to serve them and to be on this wild journey with them and Jesus.

But now that I am thirty-seven I do not think I qualify as the “young guy.” As a matter of fact I am feeling a little vulnerable. I injured my leg in August and it took two months to heal. I got a cough in mid-October and I am just now over it. I am not able to recover as I once did and my kids are making greater demands on me. My adolescent daughter and older son’s sports along with the energy of my two year-old require me to be on the go more. I've got to work harder to keep up.

But I am overjoyed with my life and my wife. It is a joy to have a best-friend and help-mate with such a strong faith and kind heart like she does. We both rejoice at the goodness of God to us.

I plan to double my dad’s age at death and so I am just over one third of my way home unless the Lord returns or decides to bring me home earlier. I covet your prayers.