EVERYBODY HAS BIRTHDAYS - WHAT’S YOUR TAKE-AWAY

Here’s mine - get to know me better.

WHY READ MY STUFF

Why would you spend time with me right now? It’s a fair question, because you've got a full day ahead of you, and a lot of crap to deal with.

But if you stay with me a few minutes, you and I might have a connection.

I just turned sixty-nine years old, and I thank everyone how wished me a big one. I’m one year from seventy, and for me, it makes me count my life a little differently. I sat down with my journal today, like I do every year on my birthday, and what came out surprised even me.

I want to read you most of it, unfiltered, and then tell you what I think God's been trying to teach me through all of it, and up to this point. What’s He trying to teach you?

JOURNAL ENTRY (personal)

Today, I'm 69 years old. Wow. One year from 70. Where did my life go? Where did the time go? Honestly, I have more memories than I can count.

My first kiss at 14 years old. My first love. Family break-up. My mom and dad divorcing. Living in the country with a horse, a broken-down go-cart. I remember the first dead person I saw — he was Greg, five years old. Wanting to love and serve my single parent, my angel, my mom. The wisdom of my dad, and other incredible mentors. My first car, home, family reunions, my brother, my sister, later more siblings through my dad's remarriage. My step-mom. My careers, and my big failure — my divorce.

Owning a business. Meeting Wendy. Our marriage. Only one family member came in grace for me — my nephew, Chris. I had good friends come, and our incredible honeymoon on a West USA tour. I had never seen such beauty. Lee, thank you for that experience. And just — wow, wow, wow — all the memories with Wendy. Blending a family. Diving, backpacking, snowboarding in the USA and Canada, traveling, homes, business success and challenges, surgeries, our Airstream camper, retiring, cancer twice, more sport surgeries — and now Wendy's unexpected brain tumor, she hasn’t shared publicly yet (it’s benign).

Just wow. God has taught us, blessed us, challenged us, tested us, and given us our incredible kids, grand-kids, and how to confess our wrongs, and try our best to make them right.

OUR KIDS

Let me tell you about our children, and I'm not going to leave them out here — Candy, Tommy, and Britty.

They didn't ask to be blended. Wendy and I forced that blend through divorce, remarriage, and putting two families together. It was a process. Could it have been better? Absolutely. Has it been awesome? For sure. They've blended and loved each other and become the closest thing to natural siblings you will ever see. It’s not perfect, but they do love one another and we are thankful God built it.

Probably my biggest failure turned to a lesson was my divorce. It taught me how to confess to those I've offended and hurt, and to try to make my wrongs right. And what I've really learned is this: through our failures and our sins, if we can learn to love others as much as we love ourselves, and love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength — then we can truly repent, and change, and mature, and grow, and try our very best.

THE LESSON LEARNED FROM IT ALL

I want to slow down on my big failure for a second, because I think it's the whole message today.

Sixty-nine years gives you a lot of chapters — a good childhood, a broken one, love, loss, success, failure, sickness, healing. And if I only told you the highlight reel, it wouldn't mean anything to you. What tends to shape me the most are my challenges and failures. My divorce didn't just cost me — it taught me. It's the thing that forced me to my knees and forced me to confess, actually confess, to the people I hurt. Not a vague "I'm sorry if I hurt you." A real, specific, "I was wrong, and here's what I did, and I want to make it right."

I had to spell it out, the damage it created, and ask for forgiveness. Confession heals. Repentance grows. And seeking forgiveness, makes you whole.

That's Matthew 22 in real life — love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else hangs on those two things. My failures taught me that better than my successes ever could. And watching Candy, Tommy, and Britty grow from three kids who didn't ask for any of this into siblings who genuinely love each other, forgive their parents — that's what happens when a family keeps choosing confession and repair over pride and silence, year after year.

SO WHAT’S THE TAKE AWAY - WHAT’S YOUR LIFE TAKE-AWAY

So here's what I want to leave you with, whatever age you are:

You don't get to sixty-nine, or thirty-nine, or nineteen, without some Gregs, some divorces, disease, some blended families you didn't ask for. The question isn't whether you'll fail. You will. The question is whether you'll confess it, try to make it right, and let God use it to grow you. That's the whole finishing-well journey — not a life without failure, but a life that keeps repenting, keeps loving, and keeps trying.

It's been an incredible life. An incredible ride. And I am so very grateful. There's nothing like turning sixty-nine. I know more than ever, experience more than ever, and love more than ever. That’s what it has taught me. Love, forgiveness, honesty, and never quit trying. Why? Out of love … because love drives everything we do and who we are.

Thank You, God, for my life, my wife, our family, and our friends, and all the lessons. Honestly, that was my biggest birthday gift. Thank you Lord. IJNIP amen ♥️

(Celebrating Wendy’s Birthday just a week ago - yes, she’s sixty now).