Today is my 49th birthday. It's a bit of an anti-climactic event actually. Next year is the big 5-0; 49 is just eh!
My friend Rita (wonderful person that she is) wrote on my Facebook wall that I should go get a bagel with lox on it to start my birthday. I thought, "What a great idea!" So off I went early this morning to New York Bagel (yes, that is the real name of the closest bagel shop to my house), with my Denver Post newspaper in tow. And I sat at the bagel shop and had my bagel and lox and read the Post. A great start to the day.
This year on my birthday I am struck by the words of Steve Jobs at the Stanford graduation in 2005. By now you have probably read or heard the words many times since Jobs' death earlier this week. "Your time is limited. So don't waste it living someone else's life."
I don't want to waste a day of my life wondering what could have been or should have been. For the past year or more I have had a growing vision about what I have called "The Isaac-Ishmael Initiative." Some people have thought it's been a mid-life crisis, or that I am just wandering around after finishing up a pastoral position last year.
The questions have been many - what is our theology around this hot-button issue of Jews and Muslims; what do I think about the nation of Israel and the Palestinians; why don't I move to Israel or Lebanon; why don't I go back to pastoring a church and/or developing leaders since dealing with the Jewish and Muslims issues is so thorny!
Well, I am choosing to live amongst and between the Isaacs and Ishmaels of the world! There's a small band of us (Lebanese, French, Scottish, American, Dutch) who believe there is something "wild and crazy" that God wants to do in the Kingdom with Isaac and Ishmael, and how the Church relates to both.
So in my 50th year of life that is what I am giving myself to - 100%. And if it seems foolish or absurd then perhaps I am right in the place God wants me to be!
This year on my birthday I am struck by the words of Steve Jobs at the Stanford graduation in 2005. By now you have probably read or heard the words many times since Jobs' death earlier this week. "Your time is limited. So don't waste it living someone else's life."
I don't want to waste a day of my life wondering what could have been or should have been. For the past year or more I have had a growing vision about what I have called "The Isaac-Ishmael Initiative." Some people have thought it's been a mid-life crisis, or that I am just wandering around after finishing up a pastoral position last year.
The questions have been many - what is our theology around this hot-button issue of Jews and Muslims; what do I think about the nation of Israel and the Palestinians; why don't I move to Israel or Lebanon; why don't I go back to pastoring a church and/or developing leaders since dealing with the Jewish and Muslims issues is so thorny!
Well, I am choosing to live amongst and between the Isaacs and Ishmaels of the world! There's a small band of us (Lebanese, French, Scottish, American, Dutch) who believe there is something "wild and crazy" that God wants to do in the Kingdom with Isaac and Ishmael, and how the Church relates to both.
So in my 50th year of life that is what I am giving myself to - 100%. And if it seems foolish or absurd then perhaps I am right in the place God wants me to be!
I think one of the neat things about growing older is that we often become more free to pursue what God has put on our hearts, however "quirky" or "messy". I love that you can embrace the "tension" of where God seems to be leading you, and you inspire me to do the same.
ReplyDeleteAMEN, BRIAN!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND GOD'S RICHEST BLESSINGS THIS COMING YEAR! MISS U GUYS!!!
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