I am 75 years old today! I am pretty sure that puts me in the “old man” category! I slept in today until 9:00 a.m. as a birthday present to myself. I took a sleeping pill last night so I would have a nice, sound sleep, and I did!! I have spent most of the morning reading and responding to “Happy Birthday” texts, emails, messages, and Facebook notes; I feel very loved!

Patty and I are going out to an early dinner and then to the “Seniors Baby Boomer Concert” at JBC’s gym tonight at 7:00 p.m. We have a super seniors ministry at JBC, and they are doing this as an outreach event for seniors. In the in-between time, I will work on my “Angels and Demons” class material for Sunday and my leadership class lesson.

I have several “birthday traditions,” one is that I officially start my new goals for the year. I finished writing them several weeks ago. Now, I start reading them every day and writing strategies, timelines, and sub-goals for the big ones, such as my bicycle trip this summer.

Another one is that I write out a relatively long prayer in my journal thanking the Lord for all his blessings to me this last year. I will sit down and write half a dozen different times during the day as I remember all of God’s blessings throughout the day. I have read the ones I wrote over the last few years to stimulate my thinking and memory. The combination of reading previous ones and writing a new one makes me feel incredibly blessed by the Lord. I am all ready for this next year of my life, whatever it may bring.

Right at the top of my blessings list is my family, close and extended; wow, that takes a lot of writing. Also, our church family and ministries that God has let me be involved in which is fantastic. I have so many good and old friends who have meant so much to me over the years. It is impossible to measure or even understand the value and worth of good friends, many of whom have been good friends for many years, my old friends! I have been reminded of many of them as I read my birthday notes. It is too bad that lack of time keeps me from having more contact with many of them over the years, but when we all get to heaven, we will have lots of time to get caught up.

October 27th is a good day for me; thank You, Lord, for creating me and loving me as a unique, one-of-a-kind, self-aware individual who will never stop thinking, remembering, feeling, loving, and being loved forever and ever.

Right now my health is pretty good for a guy about to have his 75th birthday. I feel really blessed and very fortunate. I had a physical this morning and it was pretty uneventful, I didn’t even faint when I got my blood taken, that doesn’t happen very often. I am riding my stationary bike every day, lifting weights, and I am going to start going to the pool with Patty each morning to swim. I am still preaching and teaching half a dozen times a week, working around my house most days, and planning a 2,600-mile, unsupported bicycle trip this summer. I am going to drive to Alaska this summer pulling my dory boat, fish up there for a month for salmon and halibut, and then maybe shoot an elk, a deer, a bear, and whatever else walks in front of me.

So many of my friends and people I know in the church have serious health issues that are such a burden for people to carry. As hard as you try to be cheerful and positive it is tough when you don’t feel good, have no energy, and struggle with just about every daily chore you have.

I pray every day for all those I know who are struggling with health issues that God will give them strength, joy, and a very strong sense of His presence and pleasure in them as His children.

I know that the number of years that I have left on this earth are getting less and less and one of these days I am going to hear the big C word or something similar.

I know of a few people who have just charged through life with very few health issues and just fell over dead one day, that would be nice, but not very probable, for most there is usually some kind of health issue and struggle that takes you down, little by little, usually with not much dignity intact at the end until you just quit breathing. It is just part of God’s plan for most of us. I know that when I get to that point in my life that it will be a time of growing in my character and in my relationship with the Lord just before I see Him face to face.

The Bible predicts that in the last days, there will be an increase in false teachers. False teachers and prophets are motivated and energized by the devil and his demons. The devil owns every non-believer and he wants to keep them in his domain of darkness, and the best way he can do that is by messing with the gospel so that it is no longer the gospel that transforms people from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of Christ.

He also has as his goal to capture Christians and hold them captive to the power of sin so that they dishonor God by the way they live and talk

In our day of the internet is easy for anybody to write anything and false teaching has exploded, it is everywhere on the internet and social media.

Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

The key for us is to read the Bible so much that any little deviation from the truth would immediately be obvious to us.

Patty and I are at the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center participating in JBC’s annual retreat here for three days. It has been a great time with Patty on the beach in a great facility, with amazing food, super good fellowship with 65 other people, and great Bible teaching.

Oftentimes we grow because of the difficulties and trials in life, and other times we grow because we just put our noses to the grindstone and just make it happen by discipline and self-control. It is nice when we can be in an environment like this and grow.

I suspect that if when hard times come and all we do is complain and grumble, don’t grow a bit, and even go backward because of our bad attitude, and we aren’t being faithful to the basic disciplines of Bible reading, scripture memory, prayer, gathering, and the other basic disciplines that a time like we are having now would result in little if any growth, it would simply be a nice time.

God has a way of rewarding and blessing those who obey His Word and faithfully press toward maturity.

Yikes, right after I published yesterday’s blog where I wrote that I hadn’t missed church because of sickness for twelve years, up pops two blogs from 2021 and 2022 that both said I missed church because I was sick, one because of a cold and the latest because of COVID. Oh well, I guess I can blame that misinformation on my bad memory.

It is interesting to note what people tend to remember from their past. I rarely remember the bad stuff that happened to me, but I remember like it was yesterday: most of the adventures, exciting events, and fun stuff. I think that is why I regularly pray, thanking the Lord for my amazingly blessed life because it seems like my life has been just a series of blessings, accomplishments, and adventures with people I love.

Several years ago, I was counseling a couple who were having marriage problems, and the husband, in a matter of ten minutes, rattled off a stream of failures that his wife had committed over the previous five years of their marriage. He recounted each one of them with great detail and emotion. I thought, wow, she doesn’t have a chance. I suggested to the husband that he forgive his wife, and he responded by saying, “I have forgiven her; I just haven’t forgotten what she has done.”

I counseled him that every time a bad memory of what his wife had done popped into his mind, pray, “Dear Lord, I choose to forgive my wife of this hurt because You have forgiven me of every sin I have ever committed, and You have forgotten them all as well.” They soon moved and never came back to see me, so I don’t know if he did what I suggested.

We can choose what we remember by choosing to review it in our minds over and over again. I memorize Bible verses by going over and over them until they stick. Some people do that with the offenses committed against them; that is a sad way to live. Instead, choose to forget the bad and remember the good, and you will be a much happier person and much more enjoyable to be around. Some will think when they read this that they can’t forget the bad, but you can, if you want to, choose to do it until you have trained your brain to do what is right and good.

I can’t remember the last time I missed church because I was sick. I think it was about 12 years ago. I have missed church because of hunting, fishing, and bicycle riding, but not very often because I was sick. It wasn’t anything serious, just a stomach bug that kept me close to the bathroom. The worst part was I missed teaching my discipleship class on “Angels and Demons” and all three of my Leadership Classes.” The main reason I skipped this weekend is because I really wanted to go to our church retreat at Cannon Beach Monday through Wednesday with Patty, and I was afraid that if I pushed through and taught all my classes I would be to sick to go to the retreat with my wife. It is Sunday evening, and I am still feeling a bit puky, but way better than yesterday so I think I will make it tomorrow.

I have been feeling guilty for choosing to miss my teaching responsibilities for a trip to the coast with my wife, but I am thinking that all the guilty feelings will go away five minutes after I start walking on the beach holding Patty’s hand.

It is interesting that this choice of skipping teaching opportunities followed my two most recent blogs on “Wisdom” and making choices to do things that will be rewarded at the “Judgment Seat of Christ!” yikes!!

Oh well, as I already said I will probably have justified my decision shortly after we arrive at our room, after all, I certainly didn’t want to give everybody in all my classes the same bug that I had, all though it is probably floating around everywhere.

We all tend to do that throughout our life. Make choices that are motivated by pleasure rather than eternal fruit or results, or choosing to do the easy and fun thing rather than the hard thing, and then justify the choice with any number of personal arguments. I certainly have made my share of those choices over my lifetime.

As we maneuver our way through life making choices all day long, little choices and big ones, it is important to remember that every choice has results, and sometimes a seemingly small choice will end up changing the entire trajectory of our life for the Lord.

Psalms 31:3 For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.

One of the things that happens as you get older is you get wiser based on the number of experiences more senior people have had compared with kids (those under 40). I listen to interviews given by hot sports stars in their 20s, and I hear a lot of effort to sound wise but not much wisdom. That isn’t a critical statement; it is just how it is. When you get older, you get wiser; at least, that is how it should work.

My Dad would regularly say, “Just because you get older doesn’t mean you necessarily get wiser; there are a lot of old fools running around.”

When young people talk foolishly, it is often funny, especially if they think they are talking wise. But when you hear older adults talking foolishness, it is sad because they have had enough years to have become wise if they had been learners instead of know-it-alls.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible uses the word “scoffer” for those who think they know it all. It says that scoffers never become wise because when you think you already are wise, you stop learning from others, from experience, and from books.

One of the regular warnings from my father was, “Don’t be a know-it-all.”

Some of the truths about being a “know-it-all” or a scoffer;

1. When you are a scoffer, everybody knows it but you.

2. When you are a scoffer your brain freezes, that is, it goes into a “no-learn mode.”

Proverbs 1:22: “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge?

3. Scoffers have way more problems and trials than most because they keep making the same stupid choices and decisions.

Proverbs 19:29 Judgments are prepared for scoffers, And blows for the back of fools.

4. Scoffers are almost always in debt up to their eyebrows because it takes wisdom and self-control to stay out of debt.

5. Scoffers often have anger problems, they can’t be taught or reasoned with so they just get angry.

6. Scoffers work hard to give the appearance of wisdom.

7. Scoffers can’t become wise.

Proverbs 14:6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.

8. Scoffers are impossible to correct or teach.

Proverbs 13:1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

9. Scoffers cause a lot of conflict in relationships and in the groups they are part of.

Proverbs 22:10 Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out, Even strife and dishonor will cease.

Patty and I had eight children and now we have 28 grandchildren and I am thinking that we will have 100 great grandchildren if we live long enough to see them all.

Each one of them grew steadily from birth. We have some differences in height and weight but still each one is pretty much “normal” as they have progressed through the various stages of life.

Being potty trained was a great milestone for each, talking was a sort of drug out milestone, especially for some who were a bit slower picking that up. The same with walking, some took off early and fast and others seemed to like crawling so they stayed there for a while.

The kids each progressed through the grades in school and then went to College, got married, started a career, had kids, our grandkids, of their own.

The greatest growth that they all had was in their character. Patty and I parented with a character-growth mindset. We wanted them to grow in kindness, diligence, patience, resourcefulness, humility, self-control, and others so we figured out how to stimulate character growth in each one as unique individuals.

The thing about our kids was that each one of them had a will of their own and as they got older their own choices, priorities, and values came into play in their character growth. We were blessed in that none of them was a major rebel or hard-hearted.

God’s will and plan for each of our lives is that we would grow to the point of understanding the truth of the gospel, become born-again children of God and then for the rest of our lives to grow steadily in character until we become like Jesus.

Even though that is what God wants, and He does everything that He can do in our circumstances to move us toward maturity, there is still that issue of people making right choices, having right priorities, and holding godly values. Some do and many don’t.

The key, I believe, as I press on every day to become more and more like my Savior, is to be submissive to God. It is a battle because we want to run our own lives, make our own decisions and decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. Every morning I declare Jesus to be Lord of my life and I commit my life to following and obeying Him. I do it daily because I easily slip back to me steering the ship.

When I step into heaven I want to be just exactly like Jesus in character so that I can enjoy Him and He can enjoy me for all eternity.

Dear Lord,

Your Word says that You greatly esteem the person who fears You. I fear You, You are God Almighty, the one who created me, the one who saved me, the one who made the rules. You called me to be Your disciple, Your servant, and You said that someday I will stand before You and give an account of my life to You. You declared that all of my works will be tested by fire and if they stand the test of the fire I will receive rewards from You, but if what I have done with my life is burned up I will suffer loss, but I will be saved but enter heaven empty handed. Whooooeeee that makes me nervous.

Lord, I am going to be 75 years old in one week. I don’t have a lot of time left to work for You and to earn rewards from You. I have taken a lot of tests in my lifetime and I was nervous before all of them, especially my driving test to get my license, I remember that, but none of those tests, not even all of them put together, comes close to the fear I am feeling about the moment I stand before You and give an accounting of my life to you.

I dream of You saying to me “You did well, my son!” I can’t imagine how that is going to feel to hear those words, and to see Your smile. WOW, I hope that is what happens, but I don’t know, for sure. I think about slowing down and not working so much, I get so tired any more, but I can’t. If I new for sure that “ the day” was going to turn out well, I might, but I don’t have a clue, so I will keep plugging along, doing the best that I can, always.

I shouldn’t act like it is that hard to keep going hard, because it really isn’t. He gives me the strength, the wisdom, the desire, the opportunities, and the joy when I get up out of my chair and do something for Him that matters, it is a great way to live, and I love every minute of my life.

Dear Lord, How pleasing am I to You, really? What I wouldn’t give for some kind of daily score, evaluation on how I did living for You. Help me to know how I am doing. I want to sense your pleasure in me. I also want to be able to feel your displeasure when I do things that are wrong. Can I really do that, sense that, know that? Is it just a matter of my conscience? How calloused is my conscience? Oh Lord, I do not want to be surprised on the day I first see You at the “Judgment Seat of Christ.” Please help me to grow in holiness before You. Please help me to know who and what I am in character from Your perspective, not mine or the world’s. And please give me the power to grow and change.