Friends: Another trip around the sun, a few more thoughts on truth and salvation. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #966

May 20, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

This Aging Thing

By Bob Walters

“They will still bear fruit in old age … proclaiming ‘The Lord is upright;’” Psalms 92:14-15

Well, happy birthday to me, again.  I’ll be 71 this Friday, having for now slightly outkicked the coverage of the Bible’s declaration in Psalms 90:10 that “The length of our days is seventy years – or eighty, if we have the strength.”

Psalm 90 continues uncheerfully, “… yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.” I’m sure you have noticed how often throughout the psalms, the verses go quickly from being uplifting, hopeful, and peaceful while praising God, and then switching to complaints, laments, or asking God to smite one’s enemies.

Praise-to-anger, or anger-to-praise, is a recurring pattern, though Psalms 23, 91, and 93 come quickly to mind as notable exceptions.  They are absent condemnation or vengeance while steadfastly declaring trust in God and acknowledging His goodness and love. God promises us, the faithful, in Psalms 91:14-16, “Because he loves me, I will rescue him … with long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”

Let me go on record here that I am praising God, secure in His love and the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and that the Holy Spirit is alive in my life. When someone challenges me or asks if I “am saved,” I say only that I trust Jesus and my eternal destiny is up to God.  I am thankful, even overjoyed, that I know that – and that I know it now – in this life.  God will show me His salvation; He does every day.

I cannot imagine what is next, but see plainly, always, that God paints reality.  I am thankful to be beyond the guessing game of whether God exists, truth exists, or purpose exists; they all do. Salvation in Jesus Christ exists. The Holy Spirit shares God’s knowledge and grace.   I can’t prove it … nor feel that I need to. 

God knows, and that’s enough. If others see it, then my joy is complete.

As for the great beyond, I often quote my friend and minister Dave Faust who baptized me in 2001 when I was 47 years old. I asked him a few years back about heaven and rewards and who does what inside the pearly gates. Dave noted, “Whatever it is, you won’t be disappointed.”  Amen.  I haven’t worried about it since.

My wife Pam shares life’s joy and God’s purpose not only with family and grandkids, but in the loving ministry of teaching high school English at Mission Christian Academy here in Fishers, Ind.  She catches up with me, age wise, in October. I’m blessed with the same MCA ministry, teaching high school history and civics, pouring into the students’ budding Christian lives, but not as much as they pour into a very necessary component of my existence: that of purpose and investing my faith. 

You may have noticed last week that famed billionaire investor Warren Buffett, 94, announced he would retire from his position of CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of this year.  He said, “I noticed a couple of years ago that I was starting to feel old.”

Buffett has 23 years on me, and while I don’t “feel old,” I notice my balance isn’t what it used to be, and our three-day teaching weeks at MCA come close to maxing out my energy reserves. Back in the day, 80-hour work weeks were not uncommon.

I spent my first 47 years not bearing fruit for the Lord and only feel the loss of opportunity, not guilt. Praise God for the length of my years, whatever they may be.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), after attending 45 Indianapolis 500s and not missing one since 1982, is sitting out the 500 this year. His old legs’ incompatibility with the E Stand stairs tell him the season has passed. Praise God, and start your engines…  

Speaking of Dave Faust, he wrote a good pastoral, practical, scriptural book last year on aging, Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.

And, if it’s not stuck behind a paywall, here is the link to the WSJ story on Buffett’s retirement: Buffett Steps Down After Finally Feeling His Age.