Thursday, September 07, 2006

Getting Older and Little League

My youngest son and I were talking the other day. "Dad, are you fifty, yet?" "No," I said, "I'll be fifty in a couple of years." He thought a minute, then said: "Wow, you've already lived over half of your life!" "Well, if you're trying to cheer me up, you're not doing a very good job," I replied. "In fact, I've heard that the average life span is around 70 years, so I'm definitely beyond half way through my life."

He didn't say anything after that, but I sat there and thought-- if I DO make it to 70 years old, that's only a little over 20 years away. Twenty years isn't that long. I've been married 26 years. I just attended my 30 YEAR class reunion a couple of months ago! Good night, I'm going to be SEVENTY before I know it! I don't even own a walker for crying out loud!

WHAT A MINUTE!...I'm not dead, yet. I still have (God willing) a few years left in me. I might even live past 70; maybe even past 80 or 90. I still have plenty of time to do some things that I've wanted to do or see some things I've wanted to see.
  • I want to see Yellowstone... and I want to go to Alaska again.
  • I want a home office.
  • I want to volunteer at a hospital, visiting and praying with people that are getting ready to have surgery.
  • I want to work on a Habitat for Humanity house.
If I don't get to do any of those things, that will be OK, too. God's been good to me so far. I really can't complain.

I guess, I'm thinking about "death" more today because I received word today that my Little League baseball coach died last night. He was in his seventies and in poor health. I went to see him a couple of months ago. He answered the door with that great big smile I remembered. "Shag, how you doin'?" he said when he answered the door. He always called me "Shag", even after I graduated from high school, became an adult, etc. It was always "Shag." Everyone on the team had a nickname--I never heard him refer to any of us by our names. Anyway, I spent the good part of a Sunday afternoon reminiscing about summers many years ago when the "Cougars" were the team to beat. It was a good afternoon. I knew when I left that it would be the last time I'd see him on this earth. Coach Williams was a Christian; he loved God, his wife, his family, and his church. I'm looking forward to the reunion, maybe when I'm 70...or 80...God willing.

Personal note to "Gasomatic": Thanks for continuing to stop by, even though you don't comment.

7 comments:

Excellent Parent said...

Do it!!

Keith said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Keith said...

You obviously know WAY more about the Bible than I do, so why don't you tell me what "Jeasus" meant by that statement. Do you know where that passage is found and the context in which it was said?

Excellent Parent said...

OH I love that verse!! Its a good one!!

Keith, I think this is what Jesus meant when he said the world well hate you becuse of me. But they are rejecting me, not you!!

Keith said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Keith said...

So help me understand-- because an individual "belongs" to a group wherein someone commits a crime or heinous act, ANYONE associated with that group is now guilty of the same thing? Good grief!

1) I agree that the two gentlemen that committed fraud should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But just because they were "Baptists" doesn't make all Baptists bad. Surely you're smart enough to understand that. Do you condemn all Doctors because one of them might not perform a surgery correctly?

2) I fail to see the connection with your second link. There are no "priests" within the Southern Baptist organization-- and even if there were, see No. 1

3) If you're going to quote Scripture to attack me or my opinion, you should be able to reference it. You response implies you don't know where it is...try John 15:25 and this time read it in context.

4) Bloggers like yourself are an interesting lot. Whenever they can't think of anything intelligent to say, they resort to profanity, crude comments and/or name-callling. I don't understand why you waste your time reading/commenting on blogs like mine. You're not going to change my mind and I am certainly not going to change yours, but if it makes your day...I guess there isn't much to do in Herndon, VA.

Keith said...

The deleted comment was my own due to misspelling.

What profanity?

I'm glad to know that you CAN read-- the "Owasso" shouldn't have been that hard to figure out since it's listed in my profile. Your profile on the other hand...oh wait a minute. You don't have a online profile because you prefer to hide behind your silly comments. And once again, you've avoided discussing the topic at hand.

"Church boy" -- I consider that a compliment. Thanks. Actually, I prefer to be in church over any other place.