Friday, May 20, 2005

 

The Pinnicle Of Life

In three days my brother Ted will be standing on the top of the next hill in the road of life. At age 40, people identified him with the "over the hill gang!" Well, since then he's been through the valley and up the next hill. But now he's reached the pinnicle of life.

What is it? That magic age, douple nickles, the earliest of milestones when a person begins to be considered as a "senior." Well, he's about to go breezing by that mile-post on his way to the next. On the downward slope those next markers wizz past quicker and quicker! And they just get bigger and more foreboding: 60, 65, 70,75, 80, 100. "One hundred?" Well that's still almost another lifetime away!

By now you've probably figured out that Ted is not the only one streeking past mile marker "55." Yep, he and I were born on May 23, 1950. Right in the middle of the previous century. Many years before the Internet. Before CDs, Even before cassetes (and 8 track tapes--remember them?). Before computers. Before Watergate. Before the Viet Nam War. Before man (supposidly) landed on the Moon. Before Sputnik. Before the Beatles. Before Elvis. Even before Television! (But not before the neuclear age had started.)

In 1950 Mom brought her identical twin sons back to a home that did not have a telephone, electriity, or running water. It was heated with a simple wood and coal stove which was also used for cooking. The Mail box was two and a half miles away. And the nearest grocery store was 20 miles away via dirt roads. The trip took an hour, one way, back then. And Dad farmed 250 acres of land with a little 18 horse power tractor and a team of horses. Frotunately all our meat, milk, eggs, potatoes, and veggies were produced within a few yards of the house! Our family lived poor in many ways, but we ate like kings. Steak on a weekday evening was not uncommon. But things like pop and candy bars were rare. Ice cream cones showed up at places like the country store we sometimes visited or the annual "Farmer's Day" picnic.

Enough reminnising! I thank my LORD for giving me 55 good and healthy years. I've survived pneumonia at age 10, and falling in the river at age 11. And at age 40 I survived a serious accident that landed the tail end of our van in the same river (about 50 miles further down stream). (Suzanne was with me.) And I've survived many more miles on the road and in the air. Praise the Lord. And He's allowed me to go to some exotic places and see some amazing things like the world's greatest amusement park, the world's largest airplane, the world's largest mall (many times), travelling on a winter road across a large lake and an ever larger northern deseret, going a mile below ground, flying over a glacier (under low cloud and between two mountains) and many other ordinary, and extra-ordinary things. In our travels around the nouth west corner of our continent, Colleen and I (and sometimes our children as well) have witnessed the wonder of God's creation by seeing Moose, Deer, Elk, Antelope, Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Eagles, Mountain Sheep, and Mountain Goats in the wild! But one of the greatest wonders has been seeing my grandson grow into a hansome young lad of six. (Oops, here I am reminnissing again.) Yet the greatest joy has been helping a few people along the way to find faith in Christ and/or grow into more mature children of our Heavenly Father. God is good!

Comments:
Yes it is amazing how many miles on the road you have survived with the way you drive! By the way, I might forget tomorrow so "Happy Birthday"!
 
Thanks, beloved daughter
 
Happy B'day to your twin bother (and to you, of course)!
Yes, God is good--very good--all the time! What an exciting life you've had!
 
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