The average male in the United States will live for 76 years. This is the equivalent of 4,000 weeks. To this point in my life, I've lived about 3,800 of those weeks. How should I face my mortality?
When I left Hawaii for California at the age of 19, I was put on a train so to speak, destined for an unknown future. I pulled the emergency cord and leapt into the future. The result was no less than a new course, a new destination, a new life -- college, seminary, grad school, career, marriage, family, retirement. Experts suggest that we should develop new interests post-career. So I started listening to my body and became convinced that it was a marvelous thing. I became proficient at listening attentively to my health. Eventually, a world without daily physical exercise became unthinkable.
As septuagenarians, there's still time to get the most out of our aging bodies, even though the 70-year warranty we're born with has expired (Psalm 90:10). The process of aging is inexorable. And death eventually results. But neither aging nor dying should occur before their appointed time. I simply want to live a fully functioning life as long as my Creator allows me to do so. Regular exercise seems like a good place to start.
Our Creator made us to ask for more and more challenges. That's why, at whatever age, we're always seeking out new frontiers. I have -- just as you do -- a never-to-be-repeated role to play in this world. And with that comes the knowledge that now is the time to act out our own drama. Even in your 70s, you can have a passion and toughness that youth can't match.
But first you have to jump off the train and venture out into the great unknown.