The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Psalm 90:10 (KJV)

So here I am, finally having reached my allotted threescore years and ten. There have not been a lot of birthdays featuring a zero.

Starting with “Big #10” in 1966. I don’t remember specific details, but I do know that reaching double figures did nothing to dispel my deeply held conviction that school was an unnecessary interruption to play.

Then, in 1976, I celebrated #20 in Roan Mountain Tennessee. It was a stop during the year I traveled through at least 20 states – from New York to Florida to Pennsylvania to Montana (by Greyhound) to Florida again and all up and down the East Coast, including walking over 600 miles of the Appalachian Trail. This was the year I fell in love with the USA.

1986: The day I turned 30 both of our children had the Chicken Pox, our babysitter cancelled, and Rebekah’s gift was delayed in the mail. So we ordered in pizza and celebrated regardless.

1996: Birthday #40 was our last year in Pensacola and the teachers I worked with baked an “over the hill” black cake and gave me black balloons. Like 40 could in any vague way be considered old!! Well, not anymore! 1996 was the year we moved to Brandon, the year Rebekah started to travel widely as a preacher/teacher. It was the year life began to take off at warp speed for the foreseeable future.

2006: I remember celebrating my landmark #50 at Mimi’s cafe in Brandon, along with around twenty of our friends from the Sunday evening small group we led. The next day my first book contract arrived in the mail, ushering in my signature decade of publishing and travel and speaking. My 50’s – when we also entered the wonderful world of being grandparents – turned out to be a life-altering decade of God “doing a new thing” in many dramatic ways.

2016: Turning 60 meant another day of yard work over in Wake Forest (there I am pushing the wheelbarrow). I don’t remember exactly where Rebekah took me for dinner, but it was most likely the Farm Table restaurant. What I am grateful for, looking back at the unexpected turns along the way, is how serendipitous my 60’s turned out to be. There was a lot we never saw coming back in 2016, such as COVID and retirement and more grandchildren and Tarboro; the constant has been the love and the trust and the faith.

2026: So now what?

So here I am at “threescore years and ten.” I would in no way have imagined the current scenario a decade ago:

Living here in Tarboro… Restoring this fabulous 1870’s home… Relishing our small-town life… Old enough now to write my memoir (more on that in my next post)… My parents no longer with us… Being present for our daughter, best we can, as she navigates hard endings and new paths….

I will continue my commitment to learn and to grow, and because of that I will likely continue to teach. I have already outlined my next book and, today, started the process of writing. I also want to explore more of this amazing nation with Rebekah.

I plan to reach 80 (and “80” sounds significantly more than ten more than 70) with the same passion for life that I enjoy today.

Above all, I intend to engage each new day in such a way that people who meet me will want to live well too, and commit themselves to living as ambassadors of the Kingdom and practitioners of light and grace.

I believe that’s enough for this post. Thank you all for reading, and for allowing me to share what is happening in my world from day to day. May your day be full with light and with love – DEREK