birthday reflections for 2007

Recently, as the days past and I neared the big 27-year-old mark (in reality I know it’s not that big!) one of my favorite people in the world, Cindy Smith (my pastor’s wife), asked me, “So what did you think you would be doing at 27? Or what did you think life would like or what didn’t you think life would look like?” I didn’t get to answer Cindy’s question, because we were at a friend’s wedding and there were far too many people there! So here we go, I figured it would be something fun to blog about. So here are some of my 27th Birthday Reflections (see last year’s reflections, click here):


“What I thought life would like?”

…I thought I would be married and at least have one kid. (In some delusional world I thought it would be Katie Holmes. Too bad Tom Cruise beat me to that one. 😉 I’m really thankful that God has something different in mind!)
…I thought I would be living in L.A. doing the movie industry game.
…I thought I would be making lots and lots of money!
…I thought I would be “big time” (at least in my own eyes).
…I thought I would have bought my parent’s their beautiful log home in Montana back for a large sum of money!
…I thought I would have a couple of Oscars (you know the Film industry reward) on the shelf.
…I thought that I would be at the center of the universe in many ways!

“What I didn’t think life would like?”

…I didn’t think I would be a passionate follower of Jesus Christ.
…I didn’t think I would be a missionary.
…I didn’t think that things such as holiness, purity, and the like would be major priorities in my life.
…I didn’t think that I would be willing to lay everything I ever desired down from some guy named Jesus.
…I didn’t think that I would be willing to lay my life down for a people (Czech and Europe at large) to know my Jesus.
…I didn’t think I would play football overseas.
…I didn’t think that seeing someone make little decisions to slowly (or drastically) follow a crucified Savior would bring so much joy to my life.
…I didn’t think I would have a “somewhat” consistent contentment level if I were to be single at this point in my life.
…I didn’t think that I would ever ache to be a pastor and see God use me and a community of people to be a city within a city!
…I didn’t think my mantra would be “Be a Revolution” and that would really be about being inverted and turned upside down by the love of Jesus! Crazy!

There you have it. That is just merely scratching the surface! I thank God for His sovereign hand on me that has brought me to the exact place I am (Starbucks on Murdock in Oshkosh) at this moment and the man I am at this moment. God is good. I look forward to see what I will be thinking in a year, in 5 years, in 10 and ultimately as many as He decides to give me. Thanks for reading! Be a revolution.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26-27)