August 9, 2006

The Next Thirty Years

It's playing again!

"I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age, The ending of an era and the turning of a page, Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here, Lord, have mercy on my next thirty years."

Our local Country Music stations have found the 1999 hit song and play it every time I turn on a radio. I've just waved "good-by" to one of those "Thirty Year" marks and now it feels like Phil Vassar and Tim McGraw are chasing me up and down the freeways, shouting at me to get my act together and make sure my next thirty years are better than the last. They've got me thinking.

So, I've signed up at the fitness center, shifted some work assignments, and visited a couple of friends in the hospital. The concept of "heart attack"
has a whole new meaning for me!

I've even made a list!

1. Spend more time with my Dad. Since he's in California, and I'm not, that'll require some major action.

2. Talk to each of the kids at least once a week. Thank God for the Internet, and for nationwide cellular family plans.

3. Sit still and listen to my wife. No newspaper, no magazine, no TV, nothing but Brenda and me. Listening to Brenda will also improve the way I eat, exercise, and rest.

4. Do the same thing with God. More than ever before. I'm currently listening through the writings of Luke and First Samuel, and I'm lovin' the learnin'!

There's one more. #5. "Trust to Grace."

The "woulda, coulda, shouldas" of the last thirty years could consume all other memories at times like this, but GRACE chucks them back where they belong. "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead," Paul wrote, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13 NASB

He forgets, and I forget. He calls, and I press on. Because of Him, "my next thirty years will be the best years of my life."

My Next Thirty Years is track 14 on Tim McGraw's 1999 album, A Place in the Sun. (c)1999 Curb Records, Inc.

Dick Duerksen
Assistant Vice President
Mission Development
Florida Hospital