Ramblings on being 30 and other stuff

Seven Silver Linings to being 30 (borrowed from an email to a good friend today):

1) I haven't realized my ambition of becoming a homeless drifter yet, but there's still time. Silver lining on both counts.

2) Charles Dickens wrote "a Christmas Carol" at the age of 30, and G.K. Chesterton wrote "Orthodoxy" and "The Man who was Thursday" in his early 30's. My next few years could be good ones. Also, Jesus started his ministry at age 30, which begs the question - what was the Lord like in his 20's? Other than producing some well-made furniture for the residents of Nazareth, what was he up to? I guess we'll find out at Kingdom come...

3) January 4th, 2006 - VY Day.

4) I'm on my 3rd motorcycle (a Harley-Davidson), and I'm still alive. Also, I didn't run out of gas on my foray into the Hill Country a few days ago (a minor miracle/adventure).

5) I have plenty of opportunities in front of me and the potential to take advantage of them if I can work up the courage to commit to something, for once.

6) I call Austin, Texas, the greatest place on earth, home, but have been blessed with opportunities to travel the world, mostly with the intention of sharing the gospel of Christ in word and deed with "the least of these". Needless to say, I hope that this continues.

7) I've been blessed with more good friends than I deserve, and I've spent time with almost all of them this past year. I feel like I'm the nexus of the best collection of people in the world.

Other thoughts:

1) Here's an analysis of the spiritual ramifications of Harry Potter 7 from Christianity Today that I recommend highly (along with the entire series, provided that you read it all in order and experience the surprises as God intended).

2) According to John Kelso, not everyone was as big a fan of Marvin Zindler as me...

That's all for now. Back to work tomorrow...