Combsy

I came across that verse recently, kind of haphazardly in fact, and it really hit me across the face like a Douglas Fir 2×4. You see, I am getting older. I think I really haven’t realized how old I have gotten until now…I am approaching 29. Now I know some of you will be offended by me saying that 29 is old…but for me at least, it is way too close to 30.

30 is a magical age for me. To me it represents an age where you finally get things together, find your focus, and then get after it. All of the years before it are just preparation for the really fun stuff ahead. I just can’t believe I am almost there.

I have 2 children, a wife (married for 8 years this September), a career path, a house…you know all of the “American Dream”. Somehow though I know that at age 30…that stuff starts to lose its luster. That may shock some of you who are younger…maybe even some older folks too. The American Dream though “Health, Wealth, and BBQ’s” gets really tiresome the older you get.

Keeping up with Jones’s becomes selfish, a big house becomes a burden and then the car payment prevents you from buying groceries one month. The American dream quickly becomes the American nightmare. I think age 30 is the age that the average person discovers that the American dream is a bunch of crap (to put it bluntly). The dream further deteriorates the closer you get to Jesus.

The simpler I have made my life, the closer I have gotten to Jesus. I still fail, I still screw up…but I go to him faster than I used to. Without TV, clutter, car payments, ect I have been able to have more time to think about my faith. I think Paul is a great example of this. He went from all the pomp and circumstance of being a Jewish leader to being among the poorest of the poor. I think he was much closer to God as a poor evangelist than he ever was as a Pharisee.

When we get rid of stuff, things, people, and responsibilities in our lives that don’t matter or bring us down we are then freed up to seek after Christ with our whole effort. Seeking Christ, Simply. Right?