Life After 50 Begins

As the end of September, the month I turned 50 years old, comes around my time spent in Florida is transitioning from an event to a memory. I've begun the task of putting those memories into writing for preservation purposes. I will be creating a Disney Book for this trip just like the last one. Or at least similar to the last one.

I've downloaded all the pictures and will organize them. I've put up all the souvenirs to where I can see them. Disney World and the overall world of Disney now drops in priority for me. I will take my time with the creation of the book. The group of podcasts I listen to will, once again, become entertainment and not urgent trip planning resources. Returning to what I call my "regularly scheduled life" is the order of the day, everyday.

First and foremost this means a return to focusing on the growth of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I've been guilty of putting other things ahead of God for a while now. Ironically this happened during the time I was reading a book called "Counterfeit Gods" by Timothy Keller. It explains just how easy it is to make many things in this world idols in our lives ahead of the true God. It just goes to show why the first of the ten commandments about having "no other gods" before Jehovah God.

The book has kept me from drifting too far away and helped in pulling back toward the truth that God is the center of my life and I should be living for and serving Him.

Despite my spiritual wandering and willful sinning as loving and gracious as God is even in the time I've been openly abscessed with and serving other things as idols He's shown me the ways I've changed through His work in my life over the past 6 years. An example of this is in my September 12th blog post about the days following my return from my 2nd trip to Disney World compared to the first trip in 2004.

The 2nd most important "life thing" I've got to return to is my effort to lose weight. My decision to go off my diet and eat pretty much anything I wanted to while in Disney World has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. Enjoying desserts (which Disney does VERY WELL by the way) and carbs while in "The World" put me on the path of bad habits again. Even more than 2 weeks after returning from Disney World, I've stopped most of my good eating habits and basically become the type of over eater I was back before my surgery. I've gotten addicted to carbs again. Even getting sick and feeling lousy from eating them (aka: "dumping") has not stopped me from eating too much of the wrong things.

In addition, much to the dismay of my dogs, I've stopped walking on a regular basis as well. I'm not doing the things that have resulted in my losing 180 pounds since March 08. In fact I've gained 10 pounds this month. I've got over 70 pounds to get to my goal weight. I've got to get back to the pursuit of that goal.

Paula has done just the opposite of me. She's come back from vacation on a weight loss "blue streak". She's gotten down to her lowest weight since surgery. She inspires me. We've done this together so far and I want to get back on the same path with her. It's part of doing what God wants me to do with my life.

The other area I need to return to is my ventriloquism and children's ministry. I've really neglected this area of my life since I've gone back to work. The reason for this (or is it an excuse?) is that I'm not motivated by anything but the opportunity to actually perform. The lack of my being available for parties and events on Saturdays and being able to minister at church on Sundays really has a negative effect on my motivation to work at being a vent.

But the return to start using ventriloquism to lead the music ministry once a month at AWANA nights at my church has reignited the spark to get back to work on ventriloquism. Also I've had a recurrence of encouraging encounters with the potential to learn and use the "distant voice" in my act (see blog post from 12/08/10 for a better explanation of this). I got a unique idea for a character for my new parrot puppet while I was at Disney World as well. More on that in a later post.

I've got a bunch of other personal projects I want to get done as well. The time for one of my goals for this year, the making of a new Rewind Christmas show, is growing short. That has to start with the importing all of my holiday music to I-Tunes. Then there's the writing of the script and the actual recording of the program. I want to send it as a gift to my family in Pennsylvania to feel a little closer to them during the holiday season again this year. I'm not sure I can get it done but I'm going to try.

Speaking of Christmas, even though it's only the end of September I've started buying Christmas presents already. I've gotten some good ideas and gift buying opportunities for some unique gifts for my sons and other Kentucky family members already. They're bought and stored away waiting for December 25th. I can't hardly wait the 2 1/2 months until they open them. I hope these gifts will make this Christmas a unique and memorable finish to a fantastic year.

Next up is the transformation of our house from what it is now to what Paula and I want it to be. I know it's been our goal for a few years now turn our house into a place we can really use as a base for ministry and a haven (no pun intended) to rest and grow both individually and together. It will take some work to get it to a state that's fitting for entertaining friends and family as well as a place to relax, enjoy and pursue our hobbies and interests. There's cleaning, decluttering, rearranging, organizing and more to be done to get it to that point.

Paula wants a place to start making jewelry again. I want a place write and pursue all my hobbies as well as display my personal memorabilia, Disney and baseball collectibles. Both of the rooms at the back of the house need to be cleaned out and repurposed (that's a term I've learned from Disney over the last few years) so we use them the way we want.

So there you have a list of what has to become my priorities as my life goes forward. There's so much ahead of me; so much I am supposed to and want to do. God has things for me that are so great I can't even imagine. I'm sure of that. I've got to to continue to grow in Him by reading and learning from His word. I've got to let the changes He works in me prepare me to the point where I'm willing and able to do those things.

I'm excited about all I've got to do and will work at getting it done. My goal for each day is to accomplish, grow and move forward each and every day. That' the theme for me as life after 50 begins.