It has happened and I never saw it coming.

          I am old. It is now official.

          I know what you are thinking. “Didn’t the gray hair give you a clue?” No, not really. I started to turn gray in high school. “How about the bald spot?” OK, OK. I know it is more than a ‘spot.’ More like a baseball infield. But, again, no. It started to thin in high school. “Aches and pains? No clue there?” Hey, I was married for over 40 years. I have a son. I have been in ministry for over 40 years…..I have always known pain. Really, this sudden leap into geriatric purgatory grabbed me from behind.

          It all hit me this week.

          I went into the post office to get my mail. The usual assortment of bills and flyers. A couple of heartfelt letters from companies that I have never bought anything from, but I am still a valued customer and deserve their very special deal. In amongst all of it was a large, stiff envelope. Because it was larger than the rest of the mail, I looked at it first. It was from the State of Indiana. Specifically, the State Senate.

          I have gotten communications from the State of Indiana before. On a regular basis I get this thing from the BMV telling me it is time to renew my license plates and registration. A couple of years ago I got a notice from the State Taxation department telling me I had made a mistake on my tax return and owed an additional $200. As I looked at the envelope, I thought about these things. “Wow! How much could I possible owe the State Senate? I must be in a serious hole.”

          I went back to the church and sat down in the office. I opened the envelope from the Indiana State Senate in Indianapolis.

          Inside was a piece of cardboard as large as the envelope. That was why the envelope was stiff. The cardboard was protecting a sheet of paper. I looked at it. It was a certificate.

          “STATE OF INDIANA  Indiana Senate  Certificate of Congratulations to Larry Wade On the occasion of your 65^th Birthday!  I hope this time of celebration brings many happy moments for you to treasure with those you love. It is signed, Andy Zay, State Senator, District 17.

          Before coming here we lived in Tennessee, Florida and Ohio. They all sent out these kinds of things. BUT IT WAS ALWAYS FOR SOMEONE TURNING 100! Not 65, for heaven’s sake!

          But, since I have the certificate, I am old. If I live to the next election I will not vote for Mr. Zay.

          Now that I am officially old and in my final days, I feel I can express myself on a few topics. The truly old can pretty much say whatever they want, regardless of its truth or whether or not feelings are injured. At least this has always been my observation. The first topic is despair for our nation. Not despair for the current political climate. Something worse.

          There is a particular fast food restaurant, which shall remain nameless, that I do not like, except for their coffee. To that end, I occasionally am given a gift card to that nameless restaurant by folks in the church with the idea I will buy numerous cups of coffee. Two weeks ago, I had the craving and I went to this nameless restaurant to secure a cup of my addiction. I pulled out a gift card, knowing there was not enough to fully pay for the cup of coffee. I handed it to the girl at the window. She was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t see her face, but her eyes said it all. I knew what was going through her mind. Eyes rolled, shoulders slump. She is thinking “Old people and gift cards. This guy’s great grandchildren probably gave him the card.” She sticks it in the card reader, then turns back to me with a voice of distain, the voice the young reserve for the incredibly aged.

          “Your card is 68 cents short.” I hand her the three quarters in my hand. She looks at the quarters and takes a deep breath. She assumes I am senile and cannot hear, so she says loudly and slowly, “Sir, your card is 68 cents short, not 75.” I have no mask on, so I give her a big smile and just keep looking at her. Finally, with a great sigh, she says, “Do you want me to take the 68 cents out of the 75?” Still looking at her blissfully, I say, “Oh yes! That would be lovely!”

          The next topic is evolving understanding. I am, as I said, now quite old. In the 1970s and 1980s (I was alive then) we were told the world was going to freeze because of our pollution of the planet. That didn’t happen in the allotted time, so they changed that in the 1990s and early 2000s and said we were going to broil within ten years. That didn’t happen, so they began to say climate change was going to melt the ice caps and we were going to drown in less than twenty years. One of the main proponents of this coming disaster theory, former president Barak Obama, was so convinced that when he left office, he and his family bought an $11,000,000 seaside home one foot above sea level! It seems certain groups who are bent on redefining our culture have a way of making whatever is currently happening support their argument. I am so old I remember when truth was truth and foolishness was simply foolishness.

          And then the last topic I would like to look at (I have to go take my mid-day Geritol and then get my afternoon nap) is the assault against Christianity in the world today. The Bible, we are told, is a Book that contains hate speech. All the talk about God’s judgement, the condemnation of various sins that other people find enjoyable, the insistence that only real faith in the Lord is the only way to heaven…those things are not only harsh but, to various segments of the population, down right hateful. This being so, those who say the Bible is full of hate feel free to mock both the Bible and Christians. They feel free to insist that believers lose their First Amendment rights. They feel free, in the name of love, to launch violence against those who believe in a Savior other than themselves. What confuses me is that history clearly shows that times of real peace and tranquility have only come when the principles of the Bible have been held up and followed. In our society now, the principles of the Bible are being trampled and corrupted, and look at the mess we are in. I can only conclude that, while the Bible is all about love and hope, it is not the love and hope these people are looking for in their world view.

           Life sure was simpler back when I was a young’in….