Sixty-two

As I write this blog on the morning of my 41st anniversary of my 21st birthday, I think back over the 62 years I've been on planet earth.  As I reflect on my life, what strikes me most is that I am not where I thought I'd be doing what I thought I'd be doing.  While I feel blessed beyond words, I did not plan the life I live.

What I have come to understand is that my life has absolutely not been in my control.  Oh, I've made choices alright - some good, some bad.  But the circumstances of my life, the "Sitz Im Leben" (German) or setting in life I studied in graduate school, were never a product of my choosing.  I have learned the truth revealed in Proverbs 16:9, "In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps."

I planned to retire from the Air Force and go into a secondary career of Medical Administration.  Instead, after I served six years I left the military behind and entered a life of ministry.  I thought I would preach until I reached the age of retirement and then spend the rest of my life helping smaller churches and training men to preach but wound up serving as a hospice chaplain.

While I am still serving as a chaplain, I am moving more and more into the world of veteran services within the hospice community.  Currently my title is Chaplain/Veteran Services Coordinator.  I can see clearly God's hand in my life opening and shutting doors according to the "establishment of my steps."

I have a blended family including a wife I adore, three daughters, one son, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law and eight grand-children.  All of this light and life came after a period of death and darkness when I lost my first wife to cancer.  And as my wife today is about to mark her 6th anniversary of being diagnosed with stage four cancer, we have no idea what the future holds.

However, one thing we do know is Who holds our future.  And our future, whatever path God chooses to take us down is secure in His hands, for whatever ever this life unfolds, heaven is still the final destination at the end of the journey.  I am excited to see what God has in store as I press onward into my senior years and retirement????  But I am certain of God's presence and provision until the end of this life and into eternity.  Jus' Say'n.