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I told someone yesterday that I remembered when my church had outhouses. They were out in back of the building and almost in the corn field. What I didn't tell him was that I also remember when my grandpa had to replenish the church baptistery with water anytime that new Christians were expected on Sunday. I think he said it took 32 milk cans of water to fill it to proper levels. In the winter, he had to warm the outside of the building's foundation with a corn cob fire to warm the water on the inside of the baptistery. It was a job to birth new Christians back then. It suppose it was better than chopping a hole in Des Moines river ice.

I've seen many things in my life that most take for granted because of the times. Today we are accustomed to seeing history take place before our very eyes, but it was a fairly new thing when I was young.

I saw President Kennedy shot. I saw his alleged assassin shot. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy went down on TV. It was in black and white at my house. I remember the race riots of the late 1960's and the Vietnam war protests. I remember seeing men walk on the moon, wondering if it was real. Nixon resigned after a lengthy scandal in 1974 as his impeachment loomed. President Reagan took a bullet on the evening news. The personal computer was invented. After some failed starts, phones became portable; no longer plugged into a wall.These are just the highlights.

Hideous striped and plaid bell bottoms with platform shoes and quilted shirts filled my closet. I had a leisure suit, a blow drier and hair down to my shoulders. At my college graduation, I wore a powder blue suit that screamed to the world, this one in gay, but no one was listening...thankfully. I also weighed 179 lbs. That's never going to happen again.

Today we are accustomed to life changing fast. Most of the time we don't even notice. But I witnessed the acceleration. The world is now at breakneck speed. We should crash soon. It will not be a happy time. I'm hoping to miss that event.

Today I received a birthday wish from an on-line friend that said, "May Jesus draw you ever closer to Himself this coming year", to which I said, "Thanks man. That's the best birthday wish. Will I be inside or outside the body during that process?🙃"

You begin to think about such things more often after 60. It does not worry me so much now as it did when I was 30. The future is certain though and I can say that with a confidence that I have never felt before. It probably won't make the evening news when I when I hear the Golden Bells, but I'm starting to look forward to it. Sunday is coming, but I have no travel plans just yet!!! I renewed my driver's license last week for 8 years. I would like to get my money's worth. I will be 69 in 2026. I never thought I would ever be that old. Let's see if it happens.