Eighty Things for Which Life Is Too Short

Life is too short to

(Excuse numbering)

71. Spend half your earning life paying off the house you live in.

72. Spend more years of pursuing education than you will find useful in your life.
73. 
    
74. To wait to really know your children until they are grown up.

72. To spend long weeks just to make a better living.

72. To wait until you are secure financially to find out what was really God's plan for your life.

76. To neglect learning to enjoy nature as God's wonderful home meant for you and everyone.

77. To give second place to God when you expect to spend eternity with him.

78. To fail to show personal love to your spouse every day. (if you marry)

     79. To not observe how your parents went before you into their aging years; you will be there before you realize what happened.

80. To realize how short life really is until it is almost gone.

                              

                                Eighty Things I Still Wonder About (Just curious)

71. When I read of the amazing discoveries of astronomy on the vastness of the universe and the great age of stars, I wonder how anybody can imagine it all just happening by itself without an even greater mind and powerful Being behind all of it, still far Greater than we can imagine.

72. I still wonder if heaven is anything like people have thought of in history- whether it is more like here on earth perfected, or almost totally different in many dimensions. Will there be animals in Heaven?

73. I still wonder if there are any perfect marriages. If any think theirs is, are they bored, or supremely happy.

74. I always thought of myself as being of perhaps slightly above average in intelligence but some tests have suggested perhaps a higher IQ than I ever thought of myself. I wonder. Well, so what?

74. Is hell actually what many have thought as like an eternal, burning fire? When I stood before a blazing brush fire, I wondered if any God could have the will to cast any person in there. I wonder if it may be any longer than just until the person has died. To realize there is no turning to God might be hell.

76. Will we be spirit beings in Heaven, or more like the present? Will we see God physically or Spiritually?

77. I wonder if God has been pleased with my life, or if he just forgives and loves me anyway.

79. Will all people be judged alike by God, or does he have a much more complicated way of looking at people than the way we do.
80. 
    
81. I wonder if God will grant my prayer to take me to him easily as I pray, or if it will be like a long examination before I can go. And when?

80. I wonder if I should just relax and trust God and quit wondering so much.

                              Eighty Things I Want to Do In My Remaining Days

71. Take care of myself, my wife, and my home as well as I can.

72. Follow through with my great grandchildren and be as close to them as I can, hoping that as many as can will have memories of me as they mature and grow up.

73. Be active and reaching out to people close to us outside of our family, like neighbors, tenants, and our close Belizean friends to encourage them in every way I can and encourage them in the Christian way of life.

74. To pray every day for many- missionaries, especially those in our families, for new believers, persecuted ones, young church leaders, for our own congregation, for our government leaders, and for God to foil the ways and plans of evil doers who cause much harm to people, as well as for God's comfort to impoverish persons, refugees, and others who suffer.

75. To seek to be good stewards of our wealth and use it for the good of others as well as for ourselves.

76. To encourage a mission interest and focus tor our grandchildren and be supportive to those sensing a call to serve in mission and church ministries.

77. Continue in a writing outreach through blogging and other writing beyond what I have done and make use of other social media as I find ways of doing a broader writing out reach.

78. Enjoy the outdoors as a praise to God, sharing with him the joy of his creation and wonder of beauty, growth, and the cycles of life.

79. Keep my wife as happy as I can.

80. Keep growing in faith and knowledge of the wonders of life in a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

   

            Eighty Things That Might Interest My Grandchildren (and Great Grandchildren)

71. What life was like when I grew up without electricity (let alone electronics and telephone) running water and without an indoor bathroom in the winter, or cars to get around.

72. How much I enjoyed living in Belize for 25 years, in the tropics with so many friends, a relaxed culture, a thousand fruit trees and so much more- like living on the Caribbean shores most of the years.

73. How little I missed American living in all those years- except for family, and why I did not miss anything else.

74. How we traveled through Mexico 7 times and sometimes had amazing experiences where it seemed we had angels watching over us in strange situations that could have been extremely difficult or worse.

75. To read my biography if I ever get it down to size and on e-book- if I ever do.

76. How I follow a regular morning routine that various little throughout the week: make coffee, use the bathroom, check the computer until coffee is ready; and then while drinking it, sit on the couch while Loretta reads a devotional, and then we, I especially, may talk until Loretta is a bit tired and we pray, especially interceding for family, missionaries, our grandchildren abroad. Also for our renters and Belize friends, the government, and wisdom for the day- all these, and nearing each weekend, we pray for our church and churches around the world. Also that God would act in many situations- like with oppressors and the persecuted, and a few more things personally, not always in the same order. Then we bring in the newspaper and it’s time for breakfast, for me at least. All these every morning with the order varying a bit.



77. Our daily life is mixed with a lot of freedom to do what we want to, with Loretta often in the back yard weeding while I am on the computer with email, Facebook, news, interesting articles, games and sometimes music on YouTube while reading. The demand to work at rentals sometimes disrupts a lot of retirement freedom. O yes, it also gives us opportunity to share our livelihood (financial) and conversation with about 5 single parents in Belize about once or twice a month.

78.Can you imagine what it feels like to have 29 direct descendants by the year you turn 80. Names I can remember, birthdays, not so good.

79.  How interesting it would be if you would all note the most important things that happen to you each decade- how interesting your story would be by the time you reach 80!



80. How it feels to be 80 years old when everyone thinks you're much older than you feel.