A Fresh Perspective

Dana and I just returned from five days in Myrtle Beach. We had never been there before and it was a great chance to get away. I think we discovered that the South Carolina state pastime is walking up and down the beach. And eating dinner at 4:45 in the afternoon.

We met many nice people while we were down there--but I had to think how many of those we talked with seemed to have a view of life of "well, now that I am older, I do what I want and just relax and hangout. My time is my own." Now I have no problem with down time and relaxing. I think there can be real value in it. But as a life philosophy?

Well, we returned home on Friday night and worked around the house on Saturday getting caught up. On Sunday morning I got to church early. One of the first people I saw was a lady who has retired from teaching at Warsaw Christian School after teaching Kindergarten for decades. A godly lady. And where did I see her? Half an hour before SS started, no one else around preparing for the elementary students and she was in a classroom getting ready.

Wow. She is quite a comparison for me from the majority of retirees I had met the week before.

But then it is what she said that really got me. I said, "Beautiful day!" Her response: "Oh yes it is. And wouldn't it be a great day for Jesus to come back?".

Wow. I can say how sad it is that so many people I saw last week didn't get the meaning of life. But how often do I really think of life with a truly eternal perspective.

Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly!

Vinnie

I heard something interesting as I listened to ESPN sports radio this week. A guy about my age is making an NFL comeback. The one making the comeback is quarterback Vinnie Testaverde who was the first pick in the NFL draft over 20 years ago.

It made me feel good that someone in his mid forties is going to be the man for the Carolina Panthers. I'm going to be in South Carolina this week and I hope they telecast the Panthers' game so I can see him play.

There have been two thoughts going through my mind this week as I have been thinking about Testaverde:

1. How cool is it that a guy at his age can still compete with the young bucks! I'm thinking, "Yeah, I'm a little slower, but man can our generation still get it done!"
And then there is the second view which is the other side of the coin:
2. Isn't it a little pathetic that this guy can't let it go? Is this all he really has--that he is willing to risk life and limb to go out and try and play with his 7th pro ball club? I mean he was a two time all-pro and now he is forty-three. He'll be playing against professional athletes this weekend who were not even born when he played his first pro game...

Like just about anyone named in the national media, I don't know Vinnie. I like his name. Don't like the school he played college football for years ago. I don't like most of the pro teams he played for one bit. He could be a great man who actually has his life and his priorities in order. But it seems weird to me--because there are not that many things that I was did when I was 21 that I still want to be doing now. time to grow up and change priorities.

Now God never changes. He promises that. But we do--and that usually is not a positive statement. Yet, sometimes I change can be good. I hope as I look at my life now that it is making a bigger impact for kingdom things and people than when I was in my 20's.

So, "Go Vinnie!" and I hope you don't get hurt. But most of all, I hope you have something else to live for that really matters after these few games this season are over.

Al Oerter

From time to time I think about my life and specifically, what will be said about me when I am gone. Because I am a whiner and a baby, the first thought I usually have is that on my tombstone I want it to say, "I told you I was sick."

I don't think about it a lot, so it's not some grizzly kind of thing, but more of a way that I think about the priorities of life.

It struck me as I was relaxing and watching SportsCenter the other night. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen it said something like: "Al Oerter, four time Olympic gold medalist, dies at 71."

Now I don't follow much track and field, but at least I know Oerter's name and that he broke world records every year he won a gold medal in the discus at the Olympics in 1956,1960, 1964, and 1968. That's a pretty incredible thing. He and Carl Lewis are the only ones to have four gold medals from the same event. Unbelievable company.

But here is where it gave me pause. Winning an Olympic gold medal for most anyone who follows athletics is an unbelievable and incredible thing. And this man wins four times in a row. And at the end of his life, the only thing he gets is a few words at the bottom of the TV screen.

Now, I didn't know Al Oerter. He may have been the most wonderful man in the world or a complete skunk. I have no clue. But it has made me think for the last number of days, "For what is my life counting?" Not that a gold medal is a bad thing. It's not. And four is even better. But at the end of it, I really hope my life, my investment in people, and service to Jesus makes a bigger difference than just words phrase scrolling across the bottom of a TV screen.