Today I begin my seventh decade. I hope I live seventy more but realize the chances of that are pretty slim. According to the stats this will be my last decade. I pray I beat those odds.
Regardless, if I live to be 140 or if this were my last day I can say I have had a wonderful life. I have done more and been further than a pigeon-toed boy raised on an unpaved street in small town Oklahoma could ever hope for.
I have done a lot of things I wish I had not done but there are few things I want to do that I haven't done. My bucket list is short.
I was raised by two excellent parents. They loved God and loved me and it showed every day. I have two great brothers that live less than ten miles from me. There has never been a moment in my life that I wasn't proud to say they are my brothers. I have a sister in heaven. She mothered me like I was her son but never called me anything but her “little brother.”
I have loved and been loved unconditionally by two wonderful women. One is in heaven and I was blessed to wake up with the other one next to me this morning. I have two kids and a grandson that have given me more joy than pain. I am proud of what they continue to become.
I have had many I called friends. More important, I have had some who called me their friend.
I have known the depths of disappointment and grief and the heights of immeasurable joy. I pray I have learned something from both.
I have had a reserved parking space and seat at the greatest revival of the late twentieth century. I have seen the glory of the Lord.
I have attended eleven colleges, universities and seminaries and completed twelve years of Vacation Bible School. I have six earned degrees and a diploma from Comanche High School. I am educated beyond my intelligence. I am a student of many things and an expert at absolutely nothing. I know far less than I did fifty years ago.
I have built more things than I have torn down. Some of them are still standing.
I have seen three presidents in person. None of them saw me.
I have stood behind the pulpits of Billy Graham, John Wesley, Evan Roberts, Kathryn Kulhman, D L Moody, Jimmy Swaggart and hundreds of others you have never heard of.
I have been a missionary, an evangelist and the pastor to some of the greatest people on earth and just a few knotheads. I have been a college professor, an academic dean and a college president.
I have written several books. Some of them are pretty good.
I have stood on six continents. I visited all fifty states and over seventy countries. I have had my toe in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. I have seen the Mississippi, the Nile, the Ganges, the Amazon and Cow Creek. I have seen the Great Lakes, Lake Victoria and Comanche Lake.
I have seen Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal, the Roman coliseum, the pyramids of Egypt and the Statue of Liberty. I have seen Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls, Turner Falls and have even seen myself fall more times than I care to count.
I have seen Mount Everest, Denali and Fillman's hill. I have seen the Grand Canyon and many smaller holes in the ground.
I have eaten caviar in Russia, octopus in China, aligator in Louisiana and rattlesnake in Waurika. I have eaten McDonalds in at least twenty countries. Mama's cooking is still the best I ever had.
I have been saved by the blood of Jesus, baptized in the Holy Spirit and called by God to preach the Gospel. In Him I live. In Him I move. In Him I have my very being. All that I am or ever hope to be I owe to Him. To Him be all the glory.
I am a blessed man. Indeed, it has been a wonderful life.