“Remember that you must die”. This is the function of a recently developed *Web app that will send you five randomly-spaced text messages each day that focus on this timeless truth. (The developers of this app credit a famous Bhutanese folk saying that professes “to be a truly happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily.”) Not-so-strangely, the creators of this app are serious aboutMORE...
The older I get, the more the long arm of history seems to touch me. Born in the previous century, I have the sense that I’m supposed to do more than just acknowledge the guiding hands of yesteryear. The longer I live, the more I feel the responsibility to be a steward of the past, helping ensure that current generations don’t live as though there is nothing valuable to be learned fromMORE...
Late in his life, my father would often comment, “Getting old isn’t for sissies.” This was his way of reminding himself and the rest of us that fullness of years isn’t a walk in the park. It was my father’s voice—and witness—that came to mind when I started these blogs. It would be easy to think of fullness-of-years as code language for an older-adult version of the prosperity gospel—as thoughMORE...
Over the years I’ve noticed how some esteemed church leaders gradually lose their edge. However that process begins, it starts to become noticeable as their small mistakes proliferate. A missed word here, a momentary lapse in judgement there—and after awhile it’s apparent that these formerly great trailblazers are heading towards the time when they won’t be very effective any more. When tinyMORE...
The now-classic film, Groundhog Day, poses deep philosophical questions about life. One that still puzzles me—that applies especially to this time in my life—is whether the repetitive cycling of similar days is something good or something not-so-good. To say that another way: Now that I’m older, how should I think about a lifestyle in which each day is nearly a copy of all that precededMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.