All Aboard…a Reflection back on My Life

I have been struggling for the past week, first from the test results from my latest PSA screening and as I think about that I have to think about my aches and pains and the fact that I am not getting any younger or recovering from what is ailing me, so I have been reflecting a little about my life and some of the stops along the way.

I mainly did this for myself, but I wanted to share it with my family and friends so please bear with me...thanks - Bob

“This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” Philippians 1:9-10 (NIV)

I am not much for the significance of dreams and I cannot say that I have had any divinely inspired visions. But rolling over in the middle of the night, I began thinking about where life had taken me. I guess, as you get older you spend more and more time looking in the rearview mirror. And as I was thinking about all the places God had taken me, I began to envision my life like a ride on a train.

First stop: High School station, where I got off the train and spent four great years involved in sports and basically having fun with my friends. When I got back on the train, I looked back to see all my buddies waving goodbye from the platform only to pull into College station. More years there and I am back on the train, as it pulls away I am waving goodbye to friends while the train pulls away. Next stop: the Air Force, where I met Kathleen, and after a few years we are back on the train, this time to Ashland Oregon, Southern Oregon College and Ashland Bible Church. More years there and we are back on the train, as it pulls away we wave goodbye to friends while the train pulls away.

This time it stops at Portland, Oregon to go to Multnomah Bible School. After three years there with Alyssa our first child—you guessed it, waving goodbye to all our professors and friends, most of whom we’d never see again. And as the train proceeded, there were more stops ahead as we served at a church, First Baptist, in Oakridge, Oregon, while there we had Aaron our son. We were there a year when we felt that we needed to go back to Portland, so bringing our two children on board with us we headed back home…Portland and Hinson Baptist Church.

We have been here, in Portland ever since, along the way we added two more children, Andrea and then Antonia (Toni). After a long stint at Boeing I have since retired and, and now the train has seemed to have stopped or at least slowed down. We have been at Gateway Baptist Church since 1987 and the Omega class has been our extended family.

What I desperately want to tell you is not about my “stops” on the trip. That would be like boring you with an evening of my home slides or movies! What struck me about my middle of the night “vision” is this: The only people who have gone all the way with me are my wife, my children, and my God. All other involvements, relationships, and pursuits that captured my attention and drove the agenda of my life at times are, in retrospect, only transitory—nice things, nice people, and worthy causes that at the end of the day quickly become a part of history never to be reclaimed. Life is seasonal and only a few precious things are ultimately really important.

Living as though a season of life lasts forever is dangerous. If that’s your perspective, then you will easily ignore what is significant in the long term for what seems important in the moment. I guess that’s why someone once said that on the deathbed of life no one will wish he had spent more time at the office. It’s the treachery of the thrill of an affair, the gain of a life on the road for a company that will turn you out at 55. Living now for everything that seems so important—our friends, our careers, our desires and dreams—if we are not careful, may just mess up what’s really important in the long haul.

When I was young it seemed like life was the slow boat to China and every stop seemed like forever. But now, at my stage of life, I know that life is really like a ride on the Cannonball Express headed full steam ahead for heaven with a few more stops on the way! I live to enjoy the ride with as few regrets as possible. And thankfully, Kathleen and the children are still on board with a bunch of grandchildren added in to spice up the trip. The best part is that my God’s on board, the trip planner and conductor who guarantees to get us safely home.

I guess what I want to leave everyone with or the bottom line is: that only God and a few really important people are going all the way with you. Make sure they get the best part of you!