It's Here!

Today I am 40. I think my theme song for today is going to be, "I ain't as good as I once was (but I'm as good once as I ever was)."

It's a little weirder now that I'm here and when asked my age, it's not, "I'll be 40 soon," but, "I'm 40."

In some ways it's no different than yesterday. In other ways it's really different. When I was in my late teens and early 20's (ages that don't seem all that long ago), 40 seem really old. Now that I'm here, I don't really feel all that different than I did back than. But there is this realization that guys in their late teens and early 20's look at me as really old.

I don't know how I feel about that.

I do know that I am thankful and grateful on this day. I am thankful to God for saving me and for allowing me to do what I love at a place I love.

I am thankful for a wife that has put up with far more than I have to put up with. She is more good and godly than I am by a long shot. She is a wonderful, kind, creative, strong, honest, loyal person. She is so good in so many ways. She is a great wife to me and a wonderful mother to our boys.

I am thankful for my two strong young boys (one of which is becoming a fine young man). They make me so proud and humble me so much. Their smile tells me that there is a good God and that He has blessed me beyond measure or comprehension. I hate being away from them - but love coming home and having them fight over who is going to get to me first to hug me.

I am thankful for my friends and mentors throughout the years - people like Ron & Elaine, Larry & Cindy, Sue & Terry, Bishop, Frank, Ron, Mike, Randy & Chris, Parker, and guys like Chuck Butler, Gary Engels, and Frank Eaton.

I am learning patience and humility and servanthood (God grant me the grace to learn them faster!). I am learning to be more kind and loving - to treat others as better than myself. I hope that have come a long way from my 20's, but I know I have a long way to go...

40 down and ??? to go...