It's My Birthday

It’s My Birthday

Today is a pretty special day for me. If you are reading this on Thursday the 10^th then it is my birthday. Thanks to the goodness of God I am 34 years old, and hopefully have many more years to come.

I’m not sure why I do this but on my birthday I tend to reflect back on the past years. This is what I did while driving, and praying on the way to work this morning. If you will hang on for a second I would like to share with you some of the things that crossed my mind.

When I was a kid I had two goals. One was to be a professional baseball player and the other was to be a courtroom lawyer. I wanted to either hit homeruns for the Braves or put bad guys away in the courtroom. Well neither one of these things came to pass, but that does not mean that my life is a failure. It simply means that God had other plans for me.

I didn’t understand it all back then but the decisions that God helped me to make have made me the man I am today. I may not have played big league baseball (trust me I wasn’t good enough) but God has blessed me with three of the greatest blessings I could ask for. God has given me a wonderful wife, two great children and a ministry that I enjoy.

I remember how nervous I was when I quit my high school baseball team. I told my coach that I had to work and pay for my car insurance. The truth was that I was dating a real hottie, who would later become my wife, and I wanted to spend all of my free time with her. I remember how scared I was when my wife told me that she was expecting our first child, but looking back that was one of the best days of my life. I remember moving my church membership to the church where I am currently a member, but I knew God wanted to use me there.

All of those things were scary at the time, but looking back they were some of the best decisions I have ever made. It’s funny how different things look when you are looking back on them instead of worrying about what lays ahead. In each of those situations God knew what He was doing, and He was faithful in each one.

This makes me think of decisions that I currently am making. (I really don’t like change very much.) Looking back on these things does not make the decisions I make today any less scary. It does reassure me that while I may not know what’s going on, God does. With the benefit of time I know that someday I will look back on myself as a 34 year old man and see things that I am unable to see today.

How about you? Some of you may think, “You are just 34 and are still a baby.” Some of you may think, “Dude, you are 34. You are so old.” Well, whether you are 20 or 80 you still make decisions that will impact the rest of your life. Maybe you are making one of those decisions today. If so let me give you some advice. Pray. Trust God. Know that one day this thing will be a milestone that helped mold you into the person God wants you to be.