The Big 30

Tomorrow is the big day, the day I have been waiting for thirty years to come. December 15, 2007, I will turn the landmark age of 30. (I love Best Buy if anyone is looking for gift ideas, gift cards are fine, I am picky) I have been told a mixed bag of wisdom and remarks. Some who I suspect are much older than thirty (Laura, Kevin or Jen) tell me that life is just getting started and begins to get good at age thirty. It puts you in a different category, a more mature category. You are no longer in your twenties, therefore it separates you from the college age and most of the newly weds and inexperienced job hunters. Others who I suspect are much younger (my youth group) tell me man you're old! They say things like 'you're like double my age!' According to them I am no longer capable of relating, knowing anything about pop-culture, playing video games or driving past dark. To them I have moved into the age of many of their parents and have separated myself in age from anyone they "hang out" with, since some of them do hang out with early twenties college kids.

So which is it? Is life over and full of doom and gloom or is life just beginning and is full of new found respect? I suppose the latter is what I am hoping for. But more than that I am hoping that God uses me in new and exciting ways. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life. One that know puts me in a true Christ like mold of ministry.

I think of Christ starting his ministry at the ripe old age of thirty. Just stop and consider the things he was able to accomplish. The lives he impacted and transformed. The deeds of love and compassion he showed. The authentic, meaningful relationships formed with thousands. The stories told and real life sermons preached. And to think he did all this in three short years. Started at thirty at a wedding party and ended at thirty-three on a cross. His mere three years of ministry is the pattern for us to pattern our entire lives after.

What will I do after thirty? Better yet what would I do if I knew I only had three more years to accomplish it? What relationships would I build, what lives would I look to touch? What acts of love would I seek to share? What would my heart long to be compassionate toward? I guess what I am realizing as I approach the eve of life beginning or ending, depending on your perspective, is that life is a flash and what I do with it means everything. This is a new chapter in my life and I am going to strive to max it out when it comes to being Christ-like. How about you? Commet back something you would like to change or do better. And remember it doesn't take a big landmark b-day to begin to change.

At the end of the day God is still God and He is good!