Today I turned 63 years old. We didn't do much to celebrate. A good number of my Facebook friends sent me greetings, and my wife took me to one of my favorite restaurants, P F Chang's, for dinner. Over the past few days I've spent some time reflecting on my journey through life. It has been an amazing adventure that has provided me with opportunities I could never have imagined. Not every opportunity turned out the way I would have preferred (!), but it is obvious that God has been with me through each of them. It is for this reason that my life verse for many years has been His promise to never leave me nor forsake me. Looking backwards is easy enough; looking forward is more challenging. I think there is a reason that God only allows us to see so far into the future and no further. It is enough for me that He continues to hold my hand as He leads me down the paths He has prepared for my life. I can only pray that I have the wisdom to follow.
Although I do not know the future there are some things that I believe about my future. One is that retirement isn't anything that appeals to me, at least not for the foreseeable future. If my health remains good I intend to work for many more years. I enjoy the ministry I do as well as the writing and speaking engagements I receive to even consider retiring. I plan to write more books that will benefit the church and especially the smaller, bivocational churches and their leaders. I have a new book scheduled for release next spring and I'm working on another one now. I would like to do more teaching. I taught an online course last year and enjoyed it as much as anything I've ever done. There is a tremendous blessing in knowing you are involved in preparing the leaders of the future. I hope to lead more conferences and seminars. For many of the bivocational ministers who attend, these are the first conferences and seminars they have attended that were created specifically for them. I plan to spend the remainder of my ministry encouraging these wonderful leaders and providing them with resources they can use in their churches.
Before he died Jerry Falwell used to say that if you heard that he had died that he would be the most surprised of all. Even in his later life he believed God had a 20 year plan for his life and wanted to fulfill that plan. Of course, he did die. None of us knows the time when God will call us home nor can we know of events that might dramatically change our plans. But, I appreciate the mindset Falwell modeled. As long as we remain healthy there is Kingdom work we can do. Today, on my birthday, it is my prayer that God will continue to use me for many more years to make a difference for His Kingdom.
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