I dream about twenty years from now. In my dream I still rise early to have coffee with the Lord. My wife wakes up and I bring her coffee and toast in bed. We enjoy talking with one another watching the sunrise. (Remember this a dream.” By the way she is drinking light roast coffee with cream and sugar and I’m drinking dark roast, black and steaming hot. (In my dream I’m not eating anymore oatmeal!!) After that I go for a walk and lift light weights. Will I be wrinkled? Will I be completely gray? I don’t care, I just want to continue to passionately love the Lord, my family, the Church, and lost people.

We are discovering daily what it really means to grow old together and love one another more and more. We committed our lives to God and one another at the altar before Pastor Bailus and her Dad, also a pastor so many decades ago. We have enjoyed our marriage, family, friends and ministry. God is so good. So much of this dream has already come true.

Rebekah, gave me a beautiful leather journal recently to think through the next decade of this wonderful journey we share. I’ve been imagining what life will look like, if the Lord allows me to live another 25 years. When our fourth grandson was born the 5th of March, I woke a few days later thinking, when he is 20 I will be 85. What motivation to live a healthy lifestyle! I am dreaming now more than ever.

Our youngest grandson, Bear, will be 20 years old. Our children will be grandparents! The Lord willing our grandsons graduate from college, pursue their dreams, and perhaps married and bringing us great grandsons. Oh the joy of dreaming. I’m laughing so hard writing this.

I’m still preaching the gospel with passion and hopefully with the fire that the Holy Spirit gives to people of faith. At this point in life, 25 years from now, I will have walked this earth for 90 years. There is wisdom, experience, and 74 years of Bible study, faith that has strong. I am better, not bitter. I ask the Lord to give me strength and stamina daily to do His will. He has answered my prayer for 65 years and I trust Him more today than ever.

“But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green. They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!”” (Psalm 92:12–15, NLT)

In my dream our friends and us gather on our deck and we talk about how good God has been to us. We tell stories to the younger ones about God’s faithfulness. Our stories matter to them. You see we are stewards of our testimonies. They need to know that the God of the Bible is the God of today! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This week, I want to write about Building Marriages that Last and Leaving a Legacy. I hope that you will enjoy and read along with me. What are you dreaming about for the future? Don’t be afraid to dream. Remember that we always dream like this, “If the Lord wills!” “What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”” (James 4:15, NLT)

Peace!