Friday, March 17, 2006

1/4 of a Century, And What To Show For It?

This coming week, I'm turning 25. That will make me a Quarter Century old, also known as "halfway up the hill".

A few notable things happened in March 1981. Quite a few of them were not very good. For example..


  • Colombian guerillas execute US bible translator Chester Allen Bitterman for being a "CIA agent"

  • President Ronald Reagan is shot

  • Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.



Good thing I wasn't involved in politics, foreign affairs, or space programs back then.

Now, as I consider being 25 years old, I have mixed feelings. Being well away from the early twenties actually seems kind of neat. However, when I look at my life, I realize that I'm considerably behind if I am to compare myself with others of the past. For example:


  • William Bragg entered university at 14; won a noble prize at age 25;
  • Wayne Gretzky signed a multi-million dollar contract as hockey player by age 18; set records by age 20; won 7 MVPs by the time he reached 25

  • Charles Spurgeon preached his first sermon at 17; by 22 he was the best known preacher of the day;

  • Martin Luther King was a pastor at 24; by 26 he led the well-known Montgomery Bus Boycott

  • John Brown of Haddington was able to read Greek by age 16

  • Arthur Conan Doyle was 23 when he set up his practice as a doctor;
  • Sergey Brin and Larry Paige were around 23 when they created Google

  • John Calvin had his doctorate in Law by 23; became a pastor at 25; wrote the well-known Institutes of the Christian Religion at 26

  • Jane Swift was elected into the senate at 25

  • William Carey became a schoolmaster at 24;

  • Jonathan Edwareds entered Yale at 13; became a minister at 24

  • Pele made his World Cup debut at 17

  • Boris Becker won a Wimbledon title by age 17

  • Lord Kelvin entered university at age 10;


What have I accomplished compared to that? I guess not having all these fantastic accomplishments in my first quarter century definately reduces the pressure/expectations. If I were a progidy, anything but amazing feats for the rest of my life would be a disappointment. So, at least I don't have those high expectations overshadowing me.

I've already found uniqueness in my life. But I wonder if anything I do will ever have the significance of some of the accomplishments of these people? From a temporal perspective? From an eternal perspective?

Will my life look significant/useful if one were to look at it from the vantage point of 5 years? 25 years? 100 years? eternity? Not that I can understand what a "vantage point" would mean in eternity. I guess I just added "eternity" because it sounded good :>

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1 Comments:

Blogger Paul said...

Dona had a post that said:

"i am not
who
i thought
i am"

And Chris commented this:

"I wonder if any of us know who we really are.

Not that you asked but it usually is takes an incredibly honest friend to tell us. But it takes an even more willing heart to listen to them.

I see who I am through the eyes of the one who needs me to be the truest to myself and to her that I can. That doens't always end up in smiles.

In essence I am still learning who I am and proving myself wrong every day.

One fine day, by and by, I will meet God and I will ask him, but I already know His answer.

"You are my son." He will say.

I'll probably reply "I guess that's all I ever needed to be"

and He'll probably say "Took ya long enough to figure that one out."
-------------------------------

Hope that helps, cause its true.

9:11 PM  

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