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I used to wonder how I’d feel when I’m 64. That always raised questions in my mind.

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greetings bottle of wine

If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m 64*

It’s because they were thinking about me. Not.

1. I refuse to take myself too seriously. As I’m fond of saying, this adult thing hasn’t worked out well for me.
2. The world is a mess. It’s the messiest it’s been in my lifetime. I heard it thunder, but the way 2020 is going I thought it might be Godzilla.
3. If the world is a mess, God reigns over the mess, and He’ll be doing a massive cleanup one day. Soon.
4. I have two great grown children, two great kids-in-law, and two great grandchildren (not great in the ancestry sense. They’re just pretty wonderful.) I’m always thankful that none of them are ugly.
5. I have the best wife ever. She’s a candidate for sainthood.
6. An incident that takes place in less than 10 seconds can change your life. Ask me about that.
7. I literally don’t have anything to complain about. That doesn’t mean that I don’t complain from time to time, but it’s a useless activity. No one cares about my complaints. No one cares about yours, either.
8. Why worry about the things you don’t have any influence over?
9. Regrets? None, not really. There are a handful of things I’d like to have a do-over on, in retrospect. But I figure my life has coursed the way it has because God has always directed things. And He’s been known to direct things in unexpected directions.
10. I’m wondering about what I’ll do when I’m 65. That’s an age of some distinction.

Now I’m 64.

It doesn’t feel all that different from being 63.

I’ve tried to draw some parallels to what 2020 has been and what turning 64 means in this particular year.

I’m not going to overthink that, because it’s irrelevant.

Here’s what is relevant:

1. I intend to have many more years ahead of me.
2. I’m not dead because I haven’t completed what I was put here to do.
3. I have plenty of dreams, goals, and plans. Maybe I’m just a late bloomer.
4. If I do have a consistent calling, it’s simply to be an encourager. I’ve never been defined by a “career,” whatever that is.
5. God’s got this is a fresh reality every morning. It sure took me long enough to embrace that.

When I’m 64, I used to think, I’d be pushing around a walker, eating all my meals through a straw, and not sleeping well. I was wrong on all counts.

I’m not sure what comes next, but I am content to go along for the ride. My life is like an ocean cruise – I’m on a ship, and I have plenty of choices as to how I might use my time – eat, or hang out at the pool, see a show, or eat some more. But the course of the ship is already charted – I left a port, headed for another destination, and that route is up to the captain, not me.

God is the captain, I am a passenger, and in that I am content.

Be blessed, y’all.