It happened in an instant at a moment when I least expected it. We were in a department store, and I had just finished helping my oldest son choose an outfit for his first interview after his college graduation. Just before the clerk reached over to scan the barcodes, she looked up at me and asked a question that forever changed my life. She asked me in Spanish if I wanted to get the senior discount for these items. Wait! What?! At that moment, I couldn’t remember how to speak English or Spanish. It was as if time stood still and my life flashed before my eyes all at the same time. I was now in the matrix of old age, and what could I do to bend my way out of this one? After I recovered some level of consciousness, I blurted out to the representative, “Señora, I’m only 50 years old!”
I recently heard a comedian say that the truth about turning 50 is that you are now the youngest of the old people in the world. Very funny! I guess there’s no denying that I’m now part of the freshman class of the chronologically advanced.
God’s Word reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” This means we should approach every new season of life as a gift from God. I remember as a young person seeing headlines about how certain Hollywood stars still looked fabulous at 50. Sadly, most of these headlines were focused on outward appearances. Turning 50 myself has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on a different kind of beauty—the beauty of God’s grace at work within me for the past five decades. Here are some highlights:
- I remember being 6 years old when the preacher one Sunday morning asked if anyone wanted to come forward to receive Christ as their Savior. I was holding my mom’s hand when I looked up and said to her in Spanish, “Mom, today is my day.” I let go of her hand, walked forward, knelt with the pastor by the first pew, and prayed to receive Christ as my Savior. God’s grace drew me to Jesus that day.
- When I was 27 I sat down with my wife to read a devotional for couples in which the author presented a question that changed the trajectory of my life: “When you turn 80 years old and look back over your life, what will you wish you had done?” At that moment I knew the answer: “Study to become a pastor.” God’s grace led me to become a minister in the Christian Reformed Church.
- I also remember being 40 years old and prostrating myself at the foot of a hospital bed where doctors were working. I cried out for God to spare the life of one of my children. By God’s grace, we received our child back again.
I can testify that my life has always been lived by God’s grace, whether I have found myself kneeling by a pew, standing behind a pulpit, or prostrating myself before a hospital bed. I can emphatically share with you that 50 is fabulous not because life is perfect or because better discounts are in my future, but because God is faithful in every season under heaven. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!