Father, thank You for Your abiding presence through all the many facets of this past week. This weekend itself has been full. It has been good but it has also been draining. Fill me with Your strength and power as we come together tonight. Amen.

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I am no longer young – SURPRISE! If I would live to be 100 years old (be that good or bad) I have lived over half of my life. If I think of it seasonally, spring has passed, summer has passed and the onset of autumn is upon me.

I don’t think I am going through some sort of midlife crisis but this weekend, in a way, sits on the precipice of transition. We are fortunate to not have our local schools go into session until this week – last year they reverted to the old school idea of not starting until after Labor Day. So, a new year for me. I have so enjoyed spending basically each day with my wife – what a blessing! But now we will see each other a bit during the day but mainly it will once again be evenings and weekends (yay!) …transition.

Of course, Labor Day is associated with the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Flowers are dying. Leaves are beginning their descent. Pumpkin-spice everything is starting to pop up everywhere! …transition.

Yesterday I had the distinct honor of officiating at the graveside service of a husband and wife who were affiliated with one of my churches in years past. Some time ago they relocated their entire family to North Carolina…but their cemetery plots where here in Ohio. They had both been cremated and although she passed in 2015, he passed just this past spring and the family gathered for their internment. She was 88 and he was 94 at the times of their deaths. …transition.

It makes one think. When we are young, we have so many dreams. We want to accomplish so many things. We want to impact. We want to make a difference. We want to make a change. Not always on a huge scale but at least in our own lives and the lives of those who are close to us.

When I went to college back in the fall of 1981, I distinctly remember writing out Proverbs 16:9 and tacking it above my desk in my dorm room. That note is still in the Bible I used at the time which is packed away in our attic. But the Amplified Bible states it clearly,

“A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.”

It was on my mind then and it is on my mind now. I have done my thing. I have made my choices. Some of them, I am sure, were more me than God. But I know that many of my choices were more God and less me. He has directed my steps and used me in countless ways. My prayer is that I will continue to yield to His Lordship. That I will trust in a loving Father who has such a majestic view of the big picture…and I willingly follow – for Father does know best…through all the transitions.

Sept 1st, 2019, Sun, 8:27 pm