35 Things I’ve Learned In My 35 Years On Earth…

• The Cubs probably will NEVER win the World Series. Sigh…(But I’m still a fan and watching a game at Wrigley is still a fun event to experience with friends and loved ones!)

• Even though Chicago winters are cold EVERY YEAR (so I should know what to expect by now), I am still shocked (and kind of angry) at the low temperatures each year when January rolls around.

• My parents really are smart AND wise…and they’ve always been that way (it’s not just a recent phenomenon!)!

• Seafood simply doesn’t taste good. Seriously. I’ve tried…over and over again. I just don’t like to eat things with scales that slither around in water their whole lives. (By the way—crabs and lobsters are like giant water cockroaches. Why would anyone EAT those things? And don’t even bring up how delicious they taste when soaked in butter or deep fried. If you have to slather something in butter [or deep fry, shrimp lovers] to make it taste good, maybe it’s because it doesn’t really taste good naturally?) Just sayin’…

• Avatar in 3D aside, reading a great book is usually a more wonderful experience than viewing its movie adaptation.

• People travel from all over the world to visit the top of the Willis (nee Sears) Tower, yet I believe that most people who live in Chicago have never actually done so (unless they went with a school field trip)!

• Furthermore, I will always refer to the Willis Tower as “The Sears Tower” (just like U.S. Cellular Field will always be “Comiskey Park” to me). I’m not bitter; I’m just unwilling to change!

• While most young people can’t wait to become an adult, the first eighteen years of a person’s life can oftentimes be the most simple, relaxed, and stress-free. Please try and appreciate those years, students!

• The Saturday morning—and weekday afternoon—cartoons that ran from 1985-1990 are simply the best EVER! (Thundercats, He-Man, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Smurfs, Gummie Bears, Gem, Mask, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Duck Tales, Heathcliff, Garfield and Friends, and especially the classic re-runs of Looney Tunes [Bugs Bunny, etc.]). This generation of young people does not know what they are missing! Sit DOWN and go away Sponge-Bob and Family Guy…:)

• Despite being blessed with generous parents who got me the latest and best game systems growing up, I simply do not enjoy playing video games anymore. I lost interest in them almost completely when I was about 16 years old…

• I am still amazed how often I am disappointed/let down once I get something that I REALLY REALLY want, that I just HAD TO HAVE…It’s consistently weird.

• Even after thirteen+ years of dating and marriage, my wife is still the most beautiful woman in the world to me both inside and out (and she is prettier now than she was when I first met her!).

• Listening to good music is like getting a soul massage. Music is usually the vehicle by which I am brought into the presence of God Himself…

• Summer is still the most amazing three consecutive months of the entire year (even though as an adult I don’t get summers off anymore)! Even the word “summertime” still holds an almost magical power when I say it, think of it, or hear others talking about it. Each year, without fail, I simply cannot WAIT until summer…

• As cool as it must be to bungee jump, skydive, or travel to an exotic land halfway around the world, it is still the small, simple pleasures that make life so wonderful (e.g. the moment right before you fall asleep, hearing the wind chimes dance on a warm summer day, hearing your child say “I love you,” the first salty/buttery bite of popcorn during the previews of a movie, living close to your parents as an adult, etc.)

• Despite the bold promises made in my high school yearbook to be “best friends FOREVER!,” most of my closest peer friendships began in elementary and middle school. 
• While it is deeply pleasurable to laugh, there is a satisfaction beyond words in making others laugh, in lightening their emotional load if only for a few seconds.

• It really does feel good to do nice things for other people, especially when you do them anonymously. Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35 NIV).

• I still love to play sports. What a privilege, what a blessing to have a body that works so as to enjoy flag football, soccer, golf, softball, ultimate Frisbee, running, riding a bike, basketball, dodgeball, playing catch, etc.

• Rick Warren was right on: Life isn’t all about me; it’s all about Jesus. And the more I learn to have all areas of my life revolving around Him, the more amazing life becomes!

• This generation of adolescents/teenagers is amazing. They have a depth to them, a rich desire and love for God, and a strong willingness to be a part of something bigger than themselves that continues to astound me. I simply don’t believe many of the popular/negative statistics about this age group. I am so proud to grow closer to God with them week in and week out…

• Some of the most creative people on earth work for the Crayola crayon company naming colors. Burnt umber, people, burnt umber…

• The truest wealth of life really does consist in the relationships we have—with God, family, friends, and even strangers—and not merely in the possessions that we collect. I really believe that if I am conscious as my earthly life begins to fade, I will be thinking not about the trophies I accumulated but rather about the God and people I love (and who love me!). People over products, people over programs, always and forever…

• I can’t imagine that I could love my children more…and each day I truly feel like I love them more than I did the previous day. It is such an undeserved privilege to be a parent…

• Grandparents ROCK. Seriously, grandparents have such an important role in the lives of their grandchildren. Grandparents can really be bonafide angels in disguise…

• The owl was wrong. It takes a whole heck of a lot more than three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop (just ask my dentist who has repaired my chipped teeth!)

• It really is true—most of what I have worried about either has never happened or wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.

• Even though it often doesn’t change one’s painful outer circumstances, a deep soul-rattling cry can be so healthy, so refreshing, so therapeutic…

• Forgiving others—and especially myself—is still the most difficult, the most taxing, the most excruciating experience I have ever had. It makes sense that securing and offering forgiveness to every human who has ever lived and ever will live (for every individual sin that we ever committed) cost Jesus His life.

• I am still amazed at the Bible. It is a nearly 4,000 year old document written by forty people in three languages over a thousand years and it still knows me better than I know myself, it still speaks clearly and convincingly to me in my daily life, and it still offers the most logical description of the human condition, who God is, and how we can reconnect with Him.

• Depression is real and debilitating and powerful…Wow…

• Chris Rock was right: Sometimes life doesn’t feel like it’s flying by; sometimes life feels L…O….N…..G! (“It’s the longest thing you’re ever gonna do!” :)) 
• No matter how many times I use-spell check, whenever I type the word “vacuum” I always feel like I’ve spelled it wrong.
• Amazingly, after not getting them I realize now that I truly don’t need many of the things/experiences I once wished so deeply to have.

• Jesus is the most amazing Person who has ever lived. No other religion—let alone the imagination—can offer or contrive anyone close to Him. That God would become human and die for sinful humans while knowing most would never believe in Him/receive Him/follow Him as He deserves…wow. It is a privilege to spend & invest my earthly life for Jesus as a humble response to Him spending & investing His life in me. Oh, that I have but one life to give for my Savior…