What I’ve Learned

What I’ve Learned

Not everything you experience is something you wish would happen again, and again! From the good to the bad, and a few ugly events in the middle, there is much of life we pray is but a single occurrence, if any at all. Still. From everything we do experience, there are lessons to be learned. Buried in the weeds are true golden nuggets worthy of your consideration. True. There are plenty of things that should be left buried where they lay, but if I’m not willing to learn from everything that happens, then why did I go through the experience.

Think with me a moment. Everything that happens to you should be a learning experience. Yes. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We may feel there is nothing to learn from some events, but sometimes it takes a while for the experience to reveal the lessons learned. An “ahha’ moment! This often means we are reliving the past and pondering the values garnered from those experiences. And at some quantum leap, our mind realizes that we’ve been down this path before, and here’s what happened, so the lesson learned comes to light.

Next week marks 8 years of blogging. For the past 2 years, I’ve focused on a daily post, and except maybe the weekend, travel, or illness, I’ve kept my feet to the fire of making this a reality. I prayed for a fresh daily word or thought and without fail the prayer was answered. I’ve pondered the freshness of the moment, and my fingers pounded the keyboard, and blog after blog gets published without fail. Past and present memories. Future hopes and dreams.

Making sense of life. One blog at a time.

As I look back over my shoulder I take a few days to contemplate the experience and the future. Where am I going with this process? What do I hope to accomplish? Why does this compulsion exist to share? Is this my magnum opus? Who am I writing for? Does what I have to say lend itself to a reader, or should this be a journal that I hide away at the end of the day and then burn like incriminating evidence vanquished from sight?

I have an idea where this is taking me, however, I’m not quite ready to share just yet.

I’ve been called a Renaissance Man by several and the only thing that seems to say to me is that I’m old, and I am interested in a variety of things. My focus, attention span, daydreams, well, everything that I seem to be interested in often comes from my reading habits.

Since I’ve just had a birthday and I’m getting older successfully, let me recap my life for a moment.

• Barely over 63 (and joking with mom, that’s only 17 years from being 80!)
• I’ve been reading since Kindergarten! Go, Dog. Go! One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish! Current reading includes a huge genre of work, but there is something to be said about reading “fictionalized” history where someone makes the story come alive by presenting the characters alive in their time period.
• Nearly 44 years married (aiming for at least 65 years) and nearly 40 years a dad.
• Over 33 years in IT, over 25 years as a pastor, and 35 years in active ministry.
• Second-generation Texan born in the same city as both of my parents. I truly loved living in Alaska, and now reside between two huge states, I’m in Washington! A middle state between hot and cold, but if life ever pointed me to the best place it would have to be a Texan living in Alaska where the cold, mountains, and wilderness draw.
• Through the years I have identified my life by the cars I’ve driven, experiences I’ve had, places I’ve gone, and people I know. My best identity is enhanced with my bride by my side.
• If you give me the money to drive anywhere, then at a moment’s notice I’m history! Love the road and the experience of seeing places I’ve never been, or revisiting haunts of the past. It would seem I’m approaching 2 million miles of driving, at least by my math, and my truck is supposed to last 1 million miles…quick math…that means I need to drive about 665,000 more miles to call it done!
• I’m a packrat and struggle to get rid of any mementos of my personal past. I guess I’ve lived too close to people who came out of the Great Depression last century where everything could be repurposed and reused at the right moment. Back then I suspect accumulated “stuff” equaled wealth. That being said, I’m probably a wealthy man according to some historic measurements!
• I’ve come to appreciate education more than I can say, realizing it does not always happen in a classroom. I’m always willing to learn. I’m always studying and reading to keep my mind occupied with deeper thoughts. The old adage, “When I teach, I learn twice” is applicable in so many ways. I learn as I prepare. I learn as I deliver. I learn as I recap the experience in my mind. I learn every time I recall the experience of having prepared for an audience!
• Though I’m not a labeled person, okay, I’m a baby boomer with introverted tendencies, I have learned that I’m a loner and am often content with me and my bride and no one else. There is an occasional reach to my immediate family for some gatherings and beat a hasty retreat into my shell. Ditto with my First Church family! Connect, and then head for the homestead. Go on a tour to some far-off place, I better find some alone time in the middle of a crowded bus or bazaar, or, well, there’s no telling what would happen!
• If the “lack of money” were not a hindrance, I would be a travel writer, as in, traveling everywhere and writing as the itch needed scratching. There’s so much to see, research, and write about. And so little time to accomplish this dream.
• When it comes to learning something new I find myself very adaptable. Over 30 programming languages under my belt, and I’ve moved from old cameras to new ones without much of a hitch. I’m pro-Windows and Big Blue, but I do love my portable Apple devices.
• There are some lines I draw in the sand of things I will never learn because they are outside my wheelhouse. I know what they are, and you may too, but that’s not the purpose of today.
• There are some boundaries I will never cross over. The devastation of life on the other side is visually insane and it cannot be a safe place to be.
• Finally. There are many things I still want to accomplish and only time will tell whether they come to fruition or not.

Summation? I’m fairly pleased with my status in life and look ahead for what’s around the next bend while I keep my feet to the fire and my eyes on my next step. (Hmmm…sounds like something I taught at church…must be a new lesson in the making!)

Summation addition? I do not want to be a learner only. I want to do with what I’ve learned and make it part of my foundation. Learning is something we should never stop doing!

Summation Extra! Extra!