Thoughts on turning 50!

     Fifty...five decades!  How?  Why, so fast?  I have been alive for fifty years!  I don’t feel it. I know I look it, and sometimes looking in the mirror I wonder….who is the old guy?   

I first noticed that I was getting older when men, older than me, would call me sir!  They were respectful, kind, but strange somehow, I thought to address me as sir, I should have been calling them sir….but they beat me to it, hmmm... faster thought process?

 I walked into my 20th High School reunion, and immediately walked out concluding that I was in the wrong room, the people in there could not have been the friends of my youth…but they were, and I walked back in.

Oh I don’t mind getting old, after all as someone said “It is a privilege denied to many”

I often think now, have I contributed, have I made any significant difference at all. Have I helped people along the way?

Has it been good that I have been here 50 years?

I suppose that is for others to decide, and I have found the people that have lined the hallways of my life, quite kind to me along the way.

What have I learned?

Life is a joy; it is a whimsical, thrilling and increasingly short experience. I have learned that when it comes right down to the bottom line…the only constant I have discovered is the all consuming, exhilarating love of God. A God who would allow His one and only precious son die to open the door to eternal life.

I have learned that Christ’s love prevails, endures, and lasts.  

I have also learned that family is a gift, and we should treat the people nearest and dearest with great care…because in the tuning of a calendar they just might be gone, from this life.

I have been loved by a beautiful woman, honored by three wonderful sons, been blessed by great parents and siblings, and many numerous and wonderful friends. 

Fifty years, it's gone by in a blink!

I am reminded of something Scottish Preacher Peter Marshall once said. He died by the way at the age of 46…

"It’s not the duration of a life that counts….but the donation”!

I pray, I really do…that in these five decades I have donated.

Just now...after finishing this blog entry,  several of our church kids here on a Monday night....came into my office with balloons and sang happy birthday to me! One had a note inside...

"Pastor Mark, I hope you have a joy and fun filled b-day"

How could I not, after their donation!

The following song from my favorite pianist Kevin Kern called "Joy of the journey" reminds me, that it has been!

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 1, 2011 at 8:17 AM

    Happy Birthday, Marcus!! You DEFINITELY have made an impact on my life! So thankful to God that 20 years ago (wait...20 years?), He sent you to help change my life. I'm forever grateful to Him, and you! Proud to call you FRIEND!!! Love ya, brother!

    Ron

    ReplyDelete

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