Actually, this week I have been thinking about dropping down to a less intense level of hockey game that I play in each week. Time to release my agent and let go of my dreams to play in the NHL!
I first noticed a decline this
past year when an injury during a hockey game took a very, very long time to
heal. The slowness of healing affected my weight lifting during that time
period; especially my ability to lift heavier and heavier weights.
I also noticed it when Cathy
pointed out that my “drive” wasn’t has strong as it had been for the past
thirty two years of our marriage (actually I would say forty six years of
drive). Um, yes; everything was still physically working great, praise the Lord;
but my drive has been low and it was starting to affect our intimacy. I was
becoming ‘content’ with having her go to bed without me; something that I
didn’t like to do.
Long story short, I found
something that worked! And, the side benefits are that it also helps with
agitation, trouble sleeping, nervousness, ongoing mental and physical fatigue, poor memory or
forgetfulness, and skin cancer.
I’m not looking for the
‘Fountain of Youth’, (I’ll let Ponce De Leon continue in that quest) but I do
believe that there are things that we can do to make a difference as to how we
go through the twilight years of our lives. I
should note that in my opinion, my parents are in better health in their
eighties than they were in their sixties!
This idea of getting old is
nothing new and it isn’t anything that we have to be content to settle for. In
the Book of Isaiah chapter 40 we read; “Even the
youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall”
But Isaiah goes on to tells
us that we can be elevated to new heights in every area of our lives when we
wait upon the Lord. “But
those who wait on the Lord shall
renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah
40:30-31 NKJV)
Psalm 103:5 says; "Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Psalm 103:5 says; "Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Dear Pastor, I think the hardest part of the Christian walk is the waiting. Even Abraham had a hard time "waiting", he created an Ishmael in his impatience didn't he. Waiting requires a kind of trusting which means not moving from the position of faith even when that position is under attack constantly from the reasoning of man. This waiting upon the LORD, I believe, is a position of deep confidence in Yahweh's Character, His Attributes. Apart from understanding this, waiting upon the lord (a god apart of the God of the Bible) seems pointless. Another passage I have grappled with and have learned to appreciate is where Paul says that his body is decaying, but his spirit is being renewed daily. Yet, the God of the Bible is also the God who honors the man Caleb by giving him a mountain in his eighties, and brags that his strength is better than men in their forties. What am I saying? I'm saying this: Pastor Tom, I have always viewed you as a Caleb ready to scale a mountain (didn't you build a mountain at MOA anyway>). Intimacy does change, yes, with age; just like wine, it is good when you allow it to breathe. I'll be keeping you in my prayers, ~ you have a mountain to scale.
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