October 28, 2011
Friday
11:41:47 AM
Growing Young
I once was young, now I’m a graybeard-not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he’s out giving and lending, his children making him proud. (Psalm 37:25, 26 MSG)
Pop raised me with a great tradition. Every year on my birthday he would have me read the Psalm that matched the number of years I had lived on this earth and learn from it. We would then talk about what we hoped God would do from that Psalm in our lives. We have kept this going. In fact sometime today on my 37th Birthday he will no doubt call me up and tell me how he was praying Psalm 37 over me and ask me what I was getting out of it. It’s a great tradition considering there are 150 Psalms and most people don’t live past that. Although if a person did happen to live past 150 I imagine they could start all over again because the chances of them remembering the previous Psalms would be pretty slim. But, I digress. As I read Psalm 37 there was so much that jumped out at me that I will need to take the next couple of days to unpack it. Today, of course, the scriptures where the Psalmist describes himself as once young and now old really caught my attention. I was shaving yesterday morning and I noticed way more gray in my goatee and hair then I ever had before. I have to put gel in my hair or it’s really obvious. To make matters worse I noticed some funky stray hairs on growing out of my ears. Seriously? This isn’t supposed to happen yet. I think I always see myself as younger then I actually am. No offense to those in their 40′s and beyond (btw, anytime someone says, “No offense, but” prepare to be offended) but how am I already in that category on information forms? Why is the only accurate box to check an age range from 35-49? I mean come on! Those near 50 are already thinking Senior discount right? Isn’t 30 the new 20 or something like that? Alas, I digress again. The point of this passage is the celebration of Gods faithfulness to His children and how we can live a life of generosity in a world of scarcity because our confidence is not in the economy of this world, but in the economy of our God where as it says in verse 16, “less is more and more is less”. I think about growing up and watching my Pop give and lend way more often then I thought he should. It wasn’t that we had a lot of surplus in the natural, but that was never where his generosity flowed from. It always did, and still does, come straight from his relationship with You and his sensitivity to Your voice. Regardless of how old my body gets may I grow younger and younger in my passion and zeal to give to those around me. I want my boys, in these crucial early years, to see their old man giving beyond his comfort because his comfort is in Christ alone!
Now I realize this is really going to date me, but I was listening to one of my favorite artists this morning sing one of my favorite songs. You know how music can bring you right back to a certain place and time as if you were must there yesterday? I was listening to this album while laying on a cold concrete floor in Albania while we waited for hours to see if a promised plane would arrive to take us home. I had joined with a missions organization called Teen
Mania to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to Albania after the iron curtain fell. I had just graduated from high school and knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life telling people about Jesus and giving hope. I was living a generous life. May I continue to grow young in that place Lord!
So, even if you consider this “old school” you gotta read these lyrics and listen to this song and prepare to be transported back to the early 90′s.
Let it inform your soul:
Growing Young by Rich Mullins
Rich Mullins – Growing Young Lyrics
Album: The World As Best As I Remember It Vol. 2
“I’ve gone so far from my home
I’ve seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
‘Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding
Bleeding and falling apart
And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
I’ve seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I’ll tell you it ain’t worth what it costs
And I remember my father’s house
What I wouldn’t give right now
Just to see him and hear him tell me that he loves me so much
And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And when I thought that I was all alone
It was your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now Lord
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Was Your love stronger than my foolish pride
Will You take me back now take me back and let me be Your child
‘Cause I’ve been broken now I’ve been saved
I’ve learned to cry and I’ve learned how to pray
And I’m learning I’m learning even I can be changed
And everybody used to tell me big boys don’t cry
Well I’ve been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young
Growing young”
