KEEP THE CHANGE

The Brewer celebrated his 42nd Birthday last week. That’s right, I’m half way to 84.

I am still a ways off from sinking my teeth into a steak and seeing them stay there but I am closer to sixty than twenty now. I know that the days are coming when an all-nighter means I didn’t go to the bathroom once but that’s not here yet, thank God.

What is here is the healthy realization that my days are numbered. At the same time I really feel I’ve got lots of life to live. I no longer feel bullet proof but do feel like I had better hurry up and do something cool. Forty-two is fun. Forty-two as a progressive Christian means I passionately believe in mortality and eternity at the same time. I think that’s a good thing.

THE NEW THIRTY

I have never been afraid of getting older. I really enjoyed my teenage years, but my twenties were much better. As a teenager my life was full of snuff cans, football, shenanigans, girl friends and small town life. My twenties were full of marriage, ministry, having babies and learning how to live life in the big city.

My thirties turned out to be way better than my twenties and now I am full blown into my forties. So why would I not be optimistic? Leanna and I are about to celebrate twenty years of an incredible marriage, my oldest daughter is in college and the other three are in high school. It’s a neat time, really. It’s a time of closure for some things and wild possibilities for others things.

A really healthy attitude and a bi-product of victorious Christian living is the willingness to embrace transition. I think a blessed life is one that is growing and transforming. I also know I would not only be cursed but would be a curse to everyone around me if I was still the same person at 42 as I was at 21.

THE NEXT LEVEL

So transition is not about getting older, it’s really about advancing. It’s living from faith to faith or from everlasting to everlasting. It’s learning how to hope for big things and remain confident through constantly having to deal with closure. It’s about bitter/sweet goodbyes and hopeful/expectant new beginnings. One thing I am convinced at the end of 2008 is constant change is here to stay.

I am not going to change someday, I already have and I will again and again. So why fear it? It’s a lot like the world we live in. We need not fear the world is going to change. It already has. You and I will live in a whole other world ten years from now, some for the better, a lot for the worse. So since we have no control over the direction of the world we might as well be determined to be better and better people. To be more and more hopeful, thankful and happier. I also want to be more and more useful to the Lord and more and valuable to those around me.

I love this life God has trusted me with. I don’t really think I own anything; I’m just a steward. Part of being a faithful steward of the life I live means an adventurous willingness to embrace transition in growing, advancing and seeing how far the rabbit hole goes. So I think I’ll keep the change.

A big Thank You goes out to everyone that plays such a key part in enriching my life, especially my 84-year-old Grandmother. After all these years, she is still a hottie and somehow still sees me as a very good boy. I love you, Nana. I am half way there to you in age, but a million years away in goodness of heart.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom

Psalm 90:12

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