Turning Fifty

I just got a text from a friend. (At least, I thought he was a friend):
Wherever you find yourself today...don't get too far from the bathroom...bladder control goes out the door when you get to your age! Have a great day!

Good advice, I guess. See, today I'm turning fifty. Or 50. Or the Big five-oh. Or half a century. Or a twentieth of a millennium. Given that my dad died at 51 and my body is meant to be on the downward slide, I guess I should be overly, even morbidly, introspective. But I'm not. There are a few reasons.

First, I was actually born yesterday. So I've had a day to get used to it. New Zealand is a day ahead of the US; the 17th, in terms of my chronology, was yesterday.

Second, my wonderful church family has been helping me celebrate my 50 years over the last 50 days in a multitude of amusing and cool and very generous ways. I'll save that for another post.

Third, I've been spending a lot of time lately in Isaiah. One of his constant themes is the sovereignty of God through all the vicissitudes of life (a word used in honor of my graduated daughter).

Fourth, I am in the Smokeys of Tennessee with my family, looking out on an unspoiled vista that speaks of God's eternality. Though mortal, my immortality has been gifted by Him. Life is a blink of an eye. The meaning of that relative "instant" is only found by an eternal reference point. In this case, the person of God, Himself.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place 

throughout all generations.

Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust

saying, 'Return to dust, you mortals.'

A thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

                               - Psalm 90:1-4,12.

He's Back

I knew it had been a long time. But that long? Six weeks without blogging. Guess cold turkey really does lead to a cure.

I've got a bit of a thing for the spy genre in both books and movies. So I like the phrase, "he's gone dark" since it kind of romaticizes my absence. I'm not saying I've been busy "fighting the baddies" -- ok, maybe one or two. Bottom line is, I think I wore out my phone and finger blogging in Israel. I haven't even straightened some of the photos that still lie sideways, like the stones after Titus' destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.

So many thoughts and experiences, even in six weeks. That's the beauty of a sabbatical from blogging. In this me-saturated world where people convince themselves that humanity wants a status update about them getting a root canal, it's great to be silent now and again and realize that the world didn't stop, and doesn't really care, that I haven't written anything. And I don't really care, even though I enjoy blathering on from time to time.

There are so many other important thing in life to occupy us.

Family is one. How blessed I am on this mother's day to have a wife who is so devoted to her kids (which are mine too, I believe).

Yesterday, we had our first Blaikie child graduate. We are proud that our little girl graduated magna cum laude (with high honors) in English Writing with an Art minor.

But our greatest joy is that she loves her Lord and desires to be conformed to His image.

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth"  - 3 John 4.