Starting my 65th year...

At 1:45 a.m. this morning sixty-four years ago in Portland, Oregon, my mother gave birth to twin boys.  My brother, Dennis, pushing hard, followed me seven minutes later into a bright hospital delivery room where my mother battled for her life with toxemia.

Fast forward sixty-four years; Mom is eighty-seven and doing fine, and my brother, Dennis, and I, along with our wives, will celebrate our birthday together tonight.

At some levels this is the most frightening year of my life.  I am retiring at the end of this year from more than forty-five years of doing something I love, and I'm uncertain what exactly God has in store for me in the future.  I can hear my wife, Beverly, reminding me in the background, "walk by faith".

By the same token, this is also the most exciting year of my life as I ponder more time with my children and grandchildren, additional time in Haiti., the start-up of my own counseling-coaching business and more discretionary time this year to do the things I love to do.  What could be better!

I see this as a serious time for remaining true to some parameters God has helping me put in place in my life as  I look ahead.

1.  I want to finish well.  I'm not done but entering the final quarter of my life, I don't want to retire from serving the Lord.

2.  I want to enjoy my family and friends.  I have been blessed with both and it is my desire to affirm these relationships that have been so meaningful to me.

3.  I want to discover some new challenges. I want to stretch myself beyond my comfort zone to use my discretionary time in creative ways to minister to others.

4.  I want to be physically active.  I hope for more time to hike, ride my bike, camp in my trailer, take long walks with my wife.

5.  I want to deepen my relationship with God--more time in His Word, more time in prayer, more time worshipping Him in the spirit of Romans 12:1.

As I start my sixty-fifth year, it is with the quiet confidence that the God who has called me to Himself, will continue to care for me and will complete the work He has begun in me before he calls me home,   Philippians 1:6.