My dad was in the Navy for 22 years, and he got out when I was twelve years old. He used to talk about some of those who had a few months to go before they were out as those who had a “short-timers” attitude. He said they were pretty much “good for nothing.” He used to admonish me not to get that attitude at the end of a school year, just before I graduated from High School, or before a part-time job was to end. He used to say it is a character issue. Back in the days when I was running marathons and half marathons, I would run a five-mile loop that started and ended at our house a couple of times every week for my training. For the last 200 yards, I would run as fast as I could as my declaration that anything I did, I would finish well, not coast in.

I am now 75 years old, and I keep reminding myself to finish life well and not coast in. It is very easy to use my age as an excuse to take it easy. Also, as I read the news and the various current event articles, I am convinced that the Lord is coming soon. It is a real temptation to coast across the finish line.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 to focus on the finish line and to run to win. In one particular marathon that I ran, about 500 yards before the finish, this old lady was trying to pass me, but I was determined not to let her beat me. When she would pull even, I would pick up my pace a bit. I kept doing that until I was sprinting and beating her by a step. Running as fast as you can at the end of a 26.2-mile marathon is crazy and takes a huge amount of willpower. I feel the same way now as I live my life focusing on the day I stand before Jesus at the finish line, the Judgment Seat of Christ. Patty and my kids would often be at the finish line cheering me on as I finished; I visualize Jesus doing that now.

I have taught my “Leadership Classes” for over 40 years at JBC. The word leadership doesn’t mean position or title of power; it means influence. As Christians, we are responsible for influencing all those around us to love and serve God more. The influence is that God works through us because we are the kind of people in character, practice, and lifestyle God uses. God does not use unqualified people to do His work. I teach about the importance of daily Bible reading and faithfully practicing the rest of the Basic disciplines of the Christian life and how to make them a habit in your life. I teach about goal setting and how to become a successful goal setter. I teach about the skill of time management and the importance of making the most of our time for God. I teach a lot about the character of Christ and how we can become like Him. I just finished this year’s classes and will start again the first week in October next year. I will teach women’s and men’s leadership classes and Leadership II, which will involve ladies and guys together. If you have gone through either class in the past and find yourself slipping a bit in “the disciplines,” consider retaking it to get yourself motivated to do things you know you should do but don’t seem able to make happen. Motivation is a significant element of what this class is about. I haven’t figured out yet what days and times will be for the classes, but I will soon.

I have taught my “Leadership Classes” for over 40 years at JBC. The word leadership doesn’t mean position or title of power; it means influence. As Christians, we are responsible for influencing all those around us to love and serve God more. The influence is that God works through us because we are the kind of people in character, practice, and lifestyle God uses. God does not use unqualified people to do His work. I teach about the importance of daily Bible reading and faithfully practicing the rest of the Basic disciplines of the Christian life and how to make them a habit in your life. I teach about goal setting and how to become a successful goal setter. I teach about the skill of time management and the importance of making the most of our time for God. I teach a lot about the character of Christ and how we can become like Him. I just finished this year’s classes and will start again the first week in October next year. I will teach women’s and men’s leadership classes and Leadership II, which will involve ladies and guys together. If you have gone through either class in the past and find yourself slipping a bit in “the disciplines,” consider retaking it to get yourself motivated to do things you know you should do but don’t seem able to make happen. Motivation is a significant element of what this class is about. I haven’t figured out yet what days and times will be for the classes, but I will soon.

I try to maintain a healthy balance in several areas of my life. One of those areas is that I want to stay faithful to my basic disciplines and goals, but I don’t want to be rigid. When I am inflexible, I feel guilty if I don’t do all my disciplines or everything on my to-do list or fall short of my goals. Part of what I need to remind myself is that I am doing the disciplines and goals to grow in character to be like Jesus, and to serve Him by influencing others for Him, not simply to please him with my effort or activity. On the other hand, I don’t want my flexibility and freedom to turn into apathy or laziness. It is like driving a car to a destination; I need to steer it so I don’t go into the ditch on one side or hit oncoming traffic on the other. It sounds simple and easy, but it takes a lot of self-examination and thinking about why I do things. We are complicated beings, and knowing our hearts and motives is tricky.

Another issue for me in pursuing balance is that my primary ministry now is teaching my leadership classes, which are about leading ourselves to growth and accomplishment and then influencing others to do the same. I don’t want to influence people to be machines doing the basics, but people who are driven by their love for Jesus to grow to know Him and glorify Him by bearing much fruit.

One of my disciplines and goals is writing this blog every day. I enjoy writing it, especially when people share how it has blessed them. But sometimes, it is challenging to get it done with schedules shifting. For the next three days, I will be camping in Eastern Oregon, shooting Belgium Ground Squirrels, commonly called “sage rats,” and fishing for monster Trout. There is no cell service where we will be, and I will have little time to write. I will write all about my adventures in four days.

I was reading some studies on how to live healthier and longer. The average length of life for men in the United States is 76 years. I am six months from 76 years old. The study said that if I exercise 90 minutes a day, I have a 40% chance of living to be 90; if I increase that to two hours a day, I have a 50% chance of living to 90 years old.

I wouldn’t mind dying tomorrow, but if God is going to keep me around longer than that, I would like to feel reasonably good and be able to continue to do things that make a difference in other people’s lives.

Exercising becomes increasingly difficult to motivate myself to do as I get older, and most people my age or older would agree with that. The reason for the increasing struggle to exercise is the decreasing level of energy. It seems that I am tired 30 minutes after I get up, and that is on my good days, and the last thing I want to do is exercise. And another reason is that my joints ache, my muscles ache, and my head aches. It isn’t an excruciating kind of pain, just annoying. But it certainly discourages exercising.

Oh well, as John Wick says, “Such is life,” so quit whining and get on with it.

Patty and I have been in Palm Springs this past week with our daughter Hanna, her husband, and our three grandkids. We swam in the heated pool just outside our back door, sat in the hot tub, golfed, played horseshoes, played pinochle and hearts, ate often, and slept into nine. We leave tomorrow and head back home, and it has been a wonderful time with our family. Tonight, we all sat around a fire outside and shared our favorite time of the week. The kids said Lego Land was a highlight for them; for me, it was being with all of them. I also enjoyed the extra time to read good books, write, and watch basketball on TV. We don’t have a TV at home, so we attempted to watch some good programs in the evening together; I say attempted because Patty would fall asleep, so I would turn it off and go back to reading.

My dad was in the Navy for 22 years and retired when I was 12. During those 12 years, he was on an aircraft carrier much of the time, and we traveled up and down the West Coast following the ship. We moved over 20 times in those twelve years of my life, and because of that, I didn’t make many friends or have much of a social life outside of school and family. We didn’t have a television, so I did a lot of reading. Mom would check out a box of books for me, and I would read them, and then she would check out some more. I became an avid reader early in life, and I still am.

The earliest writing discovered is from around 3,400 years BC. Moses wrote the first five books in the Bible around 1400 BC. Writing has been God’s method of recording history and communicating with people. He is the one who created our brains, so we should know that we were created to read.

Most of us learn to read early in school, but many rarely read after school years because of television or the business of life. Reading is a discipline that I believe we ought to pursue. We need to set reading goals for the Bible and goals to read other good books to grow in wisdom and character. If you are a poor reader, read, and you will become a good reader. Listen to and read a book simultaneously to increase reading comprehension and speed.

My goal is to read 100 pages each week. That is not a big goal by the standards of many avid readers, but it is above average. Most successful people in every area of life are readers. Harry Truman said, “Not all readers are readers, but all leaders are readers.” Set a goal, start small, like ten pages a week, and then gradually increase it. Read books on how to have a good marriage, how to raise good kids, how to manage your money, and how to catch more fish.

I have never said anything negative about my Mom or my Dad. I have told funny stories about them, but never in a way that dishonored them. The command to honor our Father and our Mother is repeated in the Bible eight times, and it is one of those emphatic commands with many rewards for obeying and severe consequences for disobeying. I tell many stories about my parents, especially my Dad, in my sermons and lessons. At the end of a leadership class I was teaching, one of the guys in the class came up to me and said,” I wish I could have met your Dad; he seems almost superhuman from your stories.” The comment was a bit of a shock to me because, despite my stories, my Dad was a pretty ordinary person. He was an introvert; he didn’t enjoy being around many people, he was shy, wouldn’t talk in front of people, was small in stature, didn’t like being honored or singled out in a group, wasn’t a natural leader, didn’t play any sports, and only made it through the sixth grade in school. I know that the stories about my Dad’s wisdom, accomplishments, and influence on my life have grown over the years of my telling them, and my Dad has become almost superhuman in my stories because he is that in my memories. I am sure that a significant reason for that and why I tell so many positive stories about him is because I know that my Dad’s influence is much of who I am today in character. The older I get, the more I realize that and the more I want to honor him. I get much joy from telling a story about my Dad that makes him appear more significant than John Wayne. I hear of many families where the kids and parents aren’t speaking to each other. Many critical statements are made by parents about their kids and kids about their parents. I feel so blessed to have such a positive and godly heritage and that we have such a good relationship with our kids. This last week, we have been with our daughter Hanna, her husband, and three kids in Palm Springs, and it has been such a blessed time. Thank You, Lord, for my Mom, Dad, and our family. I am a very blessed man.

There are several recliners in this nice condo we are staying at while having fun with our family in Southern California, but I’m not too fond of either one. The back only goes up to the base of my neck, so you can’t put your head back, meaning I can’t nap in them. My recliner at home has a back that goes up to the top of my head, and the top part behind my head has its own adjustment, so I can get it to fit me perfectly, and I can take a really nice nap in it. A recliner that you can’t take a nap in is useless.

One of the things that I have learned in life is that comfort is relative. Our bicycle trip is coming up in a month, and because we won’t have a support vehicle with us, we will carry everything we need on our bicycles for 44 days. Because we have to carry everything on our bikes, weight is important, so I have a folding three-legged stool that weighs 1 pound. It is much less comfortable than the recliner that I am now sitting in, but it is much nicer than the ground, and I will appreciate it.

God designed life as a whole to be uncomfortable and full of trials and problems so that we would grow in character to be like Jesus, and also so that we would desire heaven and look forward to it. Life in heaven is going to be a million, billion times better than the best day on earth, and no recliner on earth will equal the one I will have in heaven.

The key to growing in character is to enjoy whatever recliner I have, not grumbling and complaining about anything, rejoicing about everything, and being very thankful for all I have from the Lord at any given time. It’s not easy because we are naturally discontent, greedy, and unappreciative of almost everything, but I can do it if I train myself to be content and grateful always.

Patty and I are on a trip with our daughter Hanna and her family near Palm Springs, California. This morning, we got up and went to a church near where we were staying. I always enjoy visiting other churches, seeing how they do things, and listening to different pastors preach. One of the things that I am careful about is not letting my basic disciplines slip when on a vacation or trip. It is easy to do and easy to justify and excuse. I read my Bible yesterday on the plane, did lots of scripture memory, and spent time praying and reading once we got to our condo last night. Because of lots to do and hectic schedules on trips like this, it is easy to let the disciplines slip. Also, the total change in our routine contributes to our failure to practice our spiritual disciplines faithfully. Probably the main reason many don’t attend church, read their Bibles, spend time in Prayer, memorize scripture, and read in good Christian books or listen to good podcasts and recordings of sound Bible teaching is because they are on vacation. Because we are on vacation from our everyday life at home, we also tend to take a vacation from our spiritual life. The problem is that the devil and his demons don’t ever take a vacation, and in fact, they aren’t dummies; they know that when we take a break from our spiritual disciplines is when we are easy prey, so they will double their efforts to get us to backside.

I have messed up many times on trips like this in the past. My worst compromises happen on hunting and fishing trips when I am so focused on pursuing fish or elk that I just forget about the disciplines. It helps if, before a trip, I commit to be faithful no matter what. Sometimes, it works, and sometimes, the elk and fish win.

We are on an airplane headed for Palm Springs to spend a week with our daughter Hanna, her husband Kyle, and three grandkids. We will stay at Indio Springs, a resort with a very nice swimming pool and two golf courses near where We will be staying. I am anticipating that we will have a great time this next week.

Our plane was supposed to depart at 4:00 pm, but it is now 5:00 pm, and we have not yet taken off. The reason is that our plane landed here in Portland an hour late, so naturally, we were an hour late when we took off​. Was it God’s initial will that we took off at 4:00 pm? The flight before us affected our departure time, and we will impact the flight after us.

Let’s pretend that it was God’s primary will that I married Patty Buckner. But she went against God’s will and married Joe Jones. So I could no longer marry Patty Buckner, so I married Patty Burtner instead, who was supposed to marry Zeke Dude. So because one person messed up, the whole world had to slide over one place.

There is an event in the Book of Acts that is similar. Paul gets a message from God saying everyone on the ship will be saved, and then, as some of the men are trying to escape the ship in the storm, Paul says that if they leave the ship, the end of the story, as it were, gets changed.

Acts 27:22 Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

Acts 27:30-31 But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.”

God is sovereign, but it seems like God gives much freedom to us humans, and as a result, the story often gets messed up, and we also mess up the stories of others as we move over a spot.

Colossians 1:9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Paul prays that those in the Colossian church will know God’s will. Obviously, he wouldn’t have prayed for something guaranteed to happen anyway.

All of that is to say that I can choose to live outside the will of God, but everything will go so much better if I know his will and I live it.