Some thoughts on longevity . . .

Michelle and I started obedience training school over this past weekend.  We took the new puppy too.  It was tiring and challenging, but informative and helpful.  When we went home to work on our homework, I found a newspaper article in the manual we were supposed to read.  It talked about the instructor who is teaching our class.  It said that he's been doing dog training for over 25 years.  O.k., cool, pretty impressive.  But it also said the guy is 79 years old.  Not bad.  He's on the doorstep of 80, and teaching these classes several times each week, not to mention breeding and training his own dogs.  I'll be stoked to be actively doing what I love at that age.

What really struck me about the guy, though, is not how old he is.  It's how old he was when he started this gig.  A 25 year career is pretty good . . . but he started in his mid-50's.  That's still 20 years off for me.  Both of my parents have completed their Master's degrees - both after the age of 50.  Again, 20 years off for me.

And while I'm reminded that I don't have any guarantees I'll make it to my 50's, it does give me some hope.  For as hard as this church planting thing has been, and for all the times I've felt like a failure, it's o.k.  Even if I completely got this stuff wrong, and I'm supposed to be in another place doing something different with my life, there's still time to adjust and trust and grow.  There's still time to blunder and have fun and figure out how to glorify God creatively.  There's still time to make today count.