June 30th, 2026

Hi Friends,

“The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty, if we have the strength.” (Ps. 90:10)

I read that verse as a young person and passed quickly over it. What young person even thinks about being 70 years old, let alone worries about it? But, last Friday, I turned 70. I can attest to the fact of the second part of that verse: “or eighty, if we have strength.” A friend asked me, “Do you feel 70?” I answered, “In the morning, yes!” I look in the mirror and see a balding old man! And don’t even get me started on the increase of what another friend once called “golden moments,” those times when you know you know a face or a word but you can’t speak the name or the word for the life of you. It definitely takes strength to live as an older person. One birthday card I received said, “We’ll be friends till we’re old and senile — and then we’ll be new friends!” 

These last four days have been times of celebration, regular routine, special moments and interactions, and a seemingly endless string of well-wishes from all over the world. In some quiet time on my birthday, I found myself reflecting. When I was young, I cared deeply about sound doctrine and good thinking! As an older man, I still believe in the importance of those things (and I get frustrated when it is absent) but I also see how they tend to be very divisive. I find it interesting that Jesus summed up the Law (good, sound doctrine if there ever was any) by saying that it boiled down to love — loving God with everything we have and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Love doesn’t divide but real love is also doctrinally correct and consistent. Real love “covers a multitude of sins,” said Peter.

It’s this love that has made the most difference in my life and this love which has been most defining. I grew up loved — not so much verbally but demonstratively. There were rules but there was also laughter and shared experience. God was somewhat of an option but moral living and doing right by someone was not. Hard work was virtuous and sloth earned derision.  I wasn’t coddled, ever, but I was also given a great deal of freedom when I earned it. Obedience was not negotiable and disobedience was met with a very quick painful form of re-set. While, as a young man, I didn’t have a clue what I’d do with my life, I had a confidence rooted in experience and structure. I knew, at least, what right living looked like.

I reflected most, on one other thing — the rich tapestry of relationships, friendships, and experiences that have been mine. I have been loved so often by so many (and you are among that group) over these seventy years. I am rich in relationships and life experiences. I was actually a bit overcome as I thought about this. God brought the words of an old hymn by Joseph Addison to mind: “When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view I’m lost in wonder, love and praise. Unnumbered comforts to my soul they tender care bestowed, before my infant heart conceived from whom those comforts flowed. When in the slippery paths of youth with heedless steps I ran, thine arm unseen conveyed me safe, and led me up to a man. … Through every period of my life thy goodness I’ll pursue, and after death in distant worlds the glorious them renew.”

May God give you this same sense of gratitude and wondrous awe, my friend, whatever your age!

Blessings!

Doug