32 Reflections on 32 Years of Life

As I celebrate my 32nd birthday I reflect on what those 32 years have looked like, who I’ve become, and what I’ve learned. Those reflections are as follows:

1.  Being a dad now for 5 years to two amazing kids, I’ve really grown (slower then I should have) into appreciating how great my dad is.

2. Being thankful to Jesus should be the start to every day.

3. Having a really good nonsense filter when hearing other people say things is a main key to having peace, but that filter means nothing if it’s not founded in the wisdom from the Bible.

4. I like cigars, whiskey and Guinness (not all together and no more then 1).

5. I love books (audiobooks) but I don’t really count someone as a book lover if all they read are fiction novels.  You don’t love books, you love being pulled away into fantasy land while you read; probably to escape your own life.

6. I’m not good at verbalizing what’s in my head.

7. I’ve always been outgoing and had many acquaintances/friends, but years ago my mom told me to “never brag about that, because most of them aren’t the good friends you think they are and there will be a time when you can’t count on more than 1 hand the actual good friends I have.” She was right. It’s ok though, I greatly appreciate the ones I have.

8. Marriage isn’t always “easy” but most great rewards don’t come from being easy.  I will say this, any marriage I’ve seen break apart or just suck is because of serving self over serving your spouse.

9. Men cannot be women and women cannot be men, this is the way.

10. More men need to take up their God given responsibility as the spiritual leader of the home. This means have a never ceasing prayer life, actually reading and studying God’s word, and doing both those things with your family. Maybe turn off that mundane sports game or news you watch daily and get into the ACTUAL WORD OF GOD. There is zero excuse for access to bibles and bible resources.  Get your family involved in a local church body.  Be vulnerable with other Godly men about your struggles.

11. I’ve never watched a full DragonBall Z episode.

12. True lasting fulfillment, hope, and peace will NEVER come from a job, a spouse, your family, traveling, a friendship, a hobby, fame, money, sex, power, politics, or anything else the world says you need to do.  It only comes from Jesus.

13. Atheism is foolishness.

14. Learn sooner than later to prioritize your time. That means you need to have a reality check of what your priorities really should be.

15. I rarely now post comments disagreeing with a post someone made, because I have zero interest in putting time into furthering that conversation online. (See #14)

16. Attending church should be a priority over your kids sports.

17. The only anger I deal with is at myself on a daily basis for still being fat.

18. One of my favorite things observed over the past few years is watching my wife grow into the amazing homemaker and mom that she is.

19. I’m so intrigued by my daughter and her mind.

20. My son is mini me.

21. I’ve been told now for 20+ years that I would “grow out of listening to that Christian rap crap.”  Seeing as how it’s still 90+% of the music I listen to I don’t think I have.

22. I like listening to Sinatra.

23. I’ve been very bad at following through with business ideas.  That needs to stop.

24. I love teaching the Bible and believe it is a spiritual gift I have.

25. Podcasting is one of my favorite things to do.  I need to be more consistent at it while not neglecting main priorities. (See #14)

26. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know.

27. Get rid of excess material items and you will feel a weight lifted off your shoulders you probably didn’t even know was there.

28. Getting rid of watching/caring, for the most part, about sports in the past couple years was a great decision.

29. No show will top The Office.

30. Learning to see things from another person’s perspective at any given moment throughout the day will help you immensely with how you react and interact with them.

31. One of the things that bothers me the most is how much I have failed over the years to share the gospel with family members.

32. Time will not stop for anyone. Come to grips with that, prioritize how to spend your time (See #14), realize you will actually die someday, so think about what that means, age gracefully - stop fighting it and being mad at it.