Today is my last full day as a 30-something. It’s been real. It’s been fun. it’s been real fun. And now it’s over. Sobering. For years, I’ve day-dreamed out loud about (and understandably been made fun of for) wanting to become an old man. My picture was always as a 70-something sitting on my front porch in a rocking chair, drinking sweet tea, with a guitar in my hands and a dog beside me, waving to the kids as they passed by. (Don’t ask. I don’t know where this particular amalgamation of themes came from.)
Well tomorrow marks one day closer to that “dream”, and today is as good a time as any to ask this question of myself: “Self, you made it through your 30s. Now what do you have to show for it?” For me the answer’s pretty easy:
God has been so good. The ways are infinite, but you can easily count 5 right here. (Yes, Katie and Titus (now 11) have been there since my 20s — and Hannah as a fetus! — but the point still stands!)
And of course, they are not my accomplishment but His accomplishment. I love Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (ESV). Or Philippians 2:13: … “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (ESV). Catch that? His workmanship, God who works. What a great reminder. He is the One Who ultimately does the good work. He is the vine; we’re the branches. We bear the fruit — He produces it! When we acknowledge His good work, He is glorified!
I can say with full assurance that He has worked wondrous things in our family. It is amazing to look back on and acknowledge milestones like this over the last 10 years:
- September 30, 2011: The morning we welcomed sweet Hannah Lynn Clark, our oldest daughter, into the world.
- July 25, 2013: The day we welcomed beautiful Elise into the wide world.
- December 5, 2015: The night that Titus and Hannah both gave their lives to Jesus Christ on the same day. Titus was 6 and Hannah was 4. So cool!
- September 4, 2016: A “hash mark on the timeline of my life” moment where I realized a profound truth that has forever changed our marriage. My wife isn’t just a good companion, or a great person that I love spending time with, or someone whose advice I should keep in mind. No, she is indispensable. We are one flesh and I literally cannot be the man God has called me to be without her. Funny how we sometimes have to go through something hard — I did in this case — to learn the most simple but profound things. This is a story for another time and deserves its own post.
- October 11, 2016: The night we told our older 3 that we were expecting a baby (turned out to be Lillian). We have the reaction on video and it is one of the most awesome family memories we’ll ever have. They didn’t know we were videoing. Titus’ expression was stupendously incredulous. Hannah began screaming and running around the house. It was a moment to behold and it was beheld.
- May 15, 2017: The day we welcomed our 4th, beautiful Lillian Ruth, named after the Ruth of the Bible and two wonderful other women named Ruth have meant so much to us, Ruth Snyder and the late Ruth Samuelson.
- November 8, 2017: The day Elise gave her life to Jesus Christ, also at the tender age of 4.
- (Side note: I never had a “date,” so to speak, that I could point to of when the LORD took hold of my heart. I love that our kids have this and we celebrate their “Spiritual Birthdays” every year.)
- June 11, 2019: The night my wife looked me in the eye and said something to me that took courage and conviction, that was so tough for me to hear, but that has literally changed my life. She knew that God’s Word did not have the place in my life that it deserved and she told me so. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am that she took that risk and said the thing that needed to be said. I will have to tell that story another time! But the short version is: I went to my wise brother-in-law Dan Wray the very next day and just said, “Dan, I need help. I don’t know how to study God’s Word.” He met with me for lunch and showed me how to get a plan together and mentored me. This one-two punch from the fantastic Wrays got me started on a journey to love and treasure God’s Word — and I will never look back. (By the way, if you want to extort money from me, find a way to get your hands on the notes I took from my reading through the Bible in a year, from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. This set of notes is one of my most precious possessions. (See below)
- March 13, 2020: The night we held our first weekend session of Charting a Course for families at Katie’s parents’ house. What a thrill and a joy that was to be able to share our vision for helping parents build strategic family for the LORD and also see them work together and connect with a common purpose.
If I had more time, I could probably think of many, many more. But there’s no question of His amazing work in our family. I have every reason to believe He will continue to work mightily in our family in my 40s! I can’t wait to see what He has in store. And as He does it, I will acknowledge it as His work — for He alone is worthy of all praise and honor and glory!