Now He's 34

Now He’s 34

So it’s been a while since I last posted. A lot has happened. 

We sold our house in roughly 3 days. We had the sign in the yard on a Saturday morning, an offer by Monday and a deal on Tuesday. That was how we started our August. We spent August on the three P’s packing,  painting & paperwork. We also are temporarily living at Lindsey’s parents who have very graciously taken us in while we are in between houses. Also, amongst all of this I turned 34 (Sept 1^st) and my family celebrated with a trip to the beach for a couple of days. That is the sweetened condensed version of everything since I last posted. 

How’s it feel to turn 34? 

Friend: So how’s it feel to be getting old?
Me: Sore & Fabulous. 

The week before my birthday I managed to crack a rib trying to catch Ramsey after he had gotten loose over at my in-laws. My father in law caught by standing still and having Ramsey just walk up to him and sat without a word. 

It’s been 5, er 3, make that 0 days since I’ve injured myself:

Based on the last 2 weeks I feel I should carry around one of those work place injury signs or at a least a white board that I have to keep erasing and setting back to 0. I cracked a rib, not to long after that I managed to singe a good portion of hair off of my arms, hands, eyelashes and eyebrows. I was lighting my grill for the first time since we moved it here. I was having trouble with the igniter. I fixed it to the tune of a giant fireball in my face. I feel very fortunate that I escaped all of that with just some signed hair and a funny story. 

I also discovered there is a biological limit to how many salonpas strips you can place over a cracked rib. Once you exceed that limit you manage to put a really nice chemical burn over your cracked rib. Not as pleasant as one might imagine. I also managed to cut myself pretty good while shaving earlier in the week. It bled for about an hour or so.

Ironically, since I first started this section I managed to stab myself opening a box. Oh well back to 0!

These are my reflections:

There are two particular times in each year that I choose for personal reflection, focusing on areas of growth, areas of improvement and counting my blessings. Ideally, this is a running tab with all of us, but life as we know it is less than ideal. 

These 2 times for me in particular are my birthdays.  My regular birthday on Sept 1^st and my spiritual birthday, which I have placed in mid Feb for reasons that can be explained in another post. It was ironic for me to spend my 34^th birthday at Myrtle Beach (technically surfside but its 10 minutes away so close enough) as the last time I was at Myrtle Beach I was 17 and it was graduation week. As one might imagine a lot has changed since then seeing as I’m double that age now. 

I actually spent half of senior week trying not to have a social anxiety based panic attack. Every morning I would count the days until it was time to get back home. I spent the other half of the time being unusually loud and obnoxious even for me. I also spent more money at senior week (by myself in 1997) than I did the entire trip we just got back from and that was for a family of 5 some 17 years later.  I did the math and $1 in 1997 is $1.47 in 2013. Also, $12 could fill my truck with gas. As an example of my spending spree when we stopped at south of the border on the way home (of course we stopped there!) I spent roughly $200 on fireworks. What happened with those fireworks is a post for another time which may have inspired certain scenes from the Matrix.

I have one really good memory of senior week. Well make that two. 

1) A night or 2 before we left (the group of girls we hung out with had gone home already) we (there were 8 of us) went out to one of the many putt-putt courses you find at myrtle. I’m not even sure if all of us went. However, I remember me and Jeff being a bit separate from the rest of the group and after the first hole (and we were and probably still are terrible putters) declared a $5 per hole hole-in-one challenge. The finally score was 6-5 but I’m not entirely certain who won but since it’s my blog I will say that I did. It was the best I have ever played and both easily had the best scores of the group for that night. 

2) The ride home was nice, at least for me. I remember it being quiet and peaceful as everyone was asleep but me and the driver and he let me play I CD I had bought that week. Lynyrd Skynrd’s Twenty. It would be the last truly peaceful moment I would have in 1997. The rest of the year was all down here from there and it did not stop until Mid Feb 1998. 

That kid has never left me. That kid that came back from the beach with his entire life ahead of him and slowly watched everything he had built his life around crumble into nothingness. That kid that turned to gin, porn, and online relationships with people that may or may not have existed to somehow numb the pain. That kid that really was just trying to survive until the next day and desperately desperately wanted someone to love and someone to love him. When I read verses about the old self in Corinthians or when I sing “Count your blessings” that is who I picture. I see him in the back of my mind shivering in a cold lonely corner. 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every sermon I have ever preached has been at that guy. Every lesson I have ever taught has been with that guy in mind. Every theological debate I have ever been in has been with that guy. As I face the ups and downs of life. The pains, the frustrations, the anger, the fear. I wonder what God is doing. I wonder why I continue to pastor, the preach, to teach. I wonder if it is worth the cost, the time, the effort. In those moments of doubt I remember that guy and how complete strangers took the time to share Jesus with him and how radically that changed his life.

How it changed my life. 

Now at 34, thanks to the gospel of Christ. I am not a lost, scared, confused 17 year old. I am a happily married man with three wonderful healthy kids. I see the change in my life and the blessings because someone took the time. I see the Savior who died for me and I realized that I keep going not for the sake of the heathen, but for the sake of the savior who died for them.

Enjoy your week beloved!

 Glen