I don't often correct Pastor, but I had to after devotions this morning.  Somewhere within his message, he said, 'especially for those of us who are getting older...'  I reminded the faculty that we are all getting older.

We all knew what Pastor meant, but there is a tendency to define 'old' differently depending on your vantage point.  Several of us, including Pastor and me, are approaching 60 and talking more about retirement.  Others on the faculty, however, are in their first year of ministy, have just turned 30, have just marked 25 years in teaching, and various other milestones.

A couple years ago, we hosted a basketball tournament, and teams were invited from Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.  One of the teams that came was from my wife's former school, Christ the King, Sebewaing, MI, although when she taught there it was not yet a consolidated school and was simply Immanuel, Sebewaing.  I taught at a small, consolidated rural school nearby during those years.

The tournament began on a Friday right after school, and when I walked into the gym and found out Christ the King was playing in the first game, I immediately began scanning the crowd.  Finally, I walked over and asked, "Anyone here from Sebewaing, Bach, or Kilmanagh, MI?

Several 'old men' raised their hands...and then their eyes widened as if they had seen a ghost.  That ghost was me - their 8th grade teacher back in 1974.  Actually, they thought I was 'old' then in 1974, but to find me still alive 36 years later seemed unbelievable.

The look on my face must have been something to see as well, since these 'old men,' boys of just 13 when I first taught them, now looked like their fathers I knew 36 years ago.  My first class of kids is approaching or already 50...and for me, 59 is just a few weeks away.

Lots of recurring themes for those of us who have been around for a while, and one of those is definitely age.  Something I've noticed throughout my entire career, from 1974 right up through the present, is that there is always someone telling me about the problems of the current generation.  For some, things never are as good as they used to be - kids aren't as appreciative or don't work as hard, and parents (today) aren't as dedicated or committed as...  In general, they feel that 'young' people today are spoiled.  And yet, none of these folks, to date, has taken me up on the suggestion that they themsleves, perhaps, give up something like...central air conditioning, color TV, or their cell phone.

Our board of ed and faculty met not too long ago to discuss some of our current challenges, and there were laments about Sunday School attendance, church attendance, lack of commitment, etc.  For an 'old guy' like myself, most of these current challenges didn't seem all that...well, current.  The icing on the cake was when one of our forty-something year old board members remarked that 'parents just weren't as...as when she had her kids here in school.'  Her youngest one graduated from here 2 years ago.

"My my," I said to her, "you sound so very old..."