I know I\u2019m getting older since I now choose my cereal for the fiber, not the toy and I\u2019ve discovered that the volume knob also turns to the left. Some days I feel older than on other days. Working with University students for eighteen years, then teaching Seminary students for twenty-six years, kept me young. But now I am fully retired from both of those callings and it\u2019s more difficult to feel young. The Psalmist (who knows how old he was when he wrote these words?) proclaimed, \u201cThey shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing\u201d (Psalm 92:14). I sincerely desire to remain productive as long as possible. Seems to me, remaining productive (if not \u201cfresh and flourishing\u201d) helps one to reduce the fear of growing older. After all, aging is a reality as well as a privilege denied to many far better than ourselves. I understand my call to ministry as being life-long, not simply until some man-made retirement age. However, as circumstances change, callings must be re-evaluated and adjusted. I\u2019m not a big fan of Pablo Picasso, but I love his quote. Asked after a show of his works why his earliest works were the dullest and the last ones were so alive, colorful, and youthful, he reportedly replied, \u201cIt takes a long time to become young.\u201d Or to express it another way from the sayings of Casey Stengel (of whom I am a huge fan), \u201cThe trick is growing up without growing old.\u201d I\u2019m still growing up; working on becoming young \u2013 again.<\/p>\n
Join me in praying for the following global concerns:
\n\u2022 Pray for Carrie and Wendell as they adjust back to their field after a stateside assignment.
\n\u2022 Pray for Jim and Charlotte as they lead 6 weekly children\u2019s Bible study groups in Brazil.
\n\u2022 Pray for MaryEllen, who is in MD Anderson Hospital in Houston awaiting surgery.
\n\u2022 Pray for God\u2019s protection over J and R as they serve in a dangerous area this week.
\n\u2022 Pray for Doyle and Karen as they resume Polish language study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know I\u2019m getting older since I now choose my cereal for the fiber, not the toy and I\u2019ve discovered that the volume knob also turns to the left. Some days I feel older than on other days. Working with University students for eighteen years, then teaching Seminary students for twenty-six years, kept me young….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-morning-manna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}