Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"Old man, look at my life, I'm alot like you were."

My dad once told me he wanted to live to the age of 84. Unfortunately he died at 72 but his desire to live to 84 transferred to me. In fact, I think I would like to hit 85. One of my favorite Bible characters is Caleb. Caleb lived beyond 85 but his story is found in the book of Joshua. Joshua 14.6-15 is the story of Joshua giving land to Caleb. Caleb by this time was 85 and was looking not for a rocking chair but for the high country where the giants were.

What an incredible attitude toward life. As a Pastor friend once told me, "There is no such thing as Christian retirement." Caleb embodies that lifestyle. Even though he was considered "old" he never stopped going, doing, conquering, and winning. Hence my reasoning for living to 85. But of course only God knows when I will die. I may live to 85 or I may die on the way home today, regardless it is all in His will. I am telling you the truth when I say that I am actually enjoying getting older. Someone may say, "you say that now but just wait until you get to ____ age." But I am quite positive that I will have the same attitude then as I do now. In fact, I may end up being one of those jovial old men who laughs alot, not crazy or loony just happy. After all, the older I get the closer I get to Jesus.

But my prayer is that Kathryn and I grow old together and that at 85, I'm still hitting the heavy bag, hiking mountains, and killing giants.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

I can relate to this. I've never been bothered by the idea of getting older. In fact I've always thought that I'll really enjoy being a grandparent, which is probably a weird thing for someone my age to think. But this is a great reminder - that getting older doesn't have to mean giving up on life or losing your sense of adventure. Thanks for such a good biblical example!