[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Faging-gracefully":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Faging-gracefully-surround":86},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":12,"columnName":68,"date":69,"description":18,"extension":70,"image":71,"meta":72,"minRead":73,"navigation":74,"path":75,"postType":76,"publication":77,"publicationUrl":71,"seo":78,"stem":79,"topics":80,"__hash__":85},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Faging-gracefully.md","Aging Gracefully",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11],"1 Timothy","Titus","Psalms",{"type":13,"value":14,"toc":64},"minimark",[15,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55,58,61],[16,17,18],"p",{},"One day my daughter asked me matter-of-factly, \"Dad, when you were a boy, did you dress like the Pilgrims?\" I assured her that I wasn't quite that old. (I'm 42.) But her question did make me ponder the way we view aging.",[16,20,21],{},"Sometimes it catches us by surprise. When he was about 80 years old, my grandfather decided to sell some items at an auction. The auctioneer told him, \"Mr. Faust, this should be a very good sale because of all your antiques.\"",[16,23,24],{},"Grandpa said, \"Antiques? I don't own any antiques. Why, I never bought an antique in my life!\" He didn't realize that his furniture, dishes, books—even childhood toys—had become antiques over the years. He didn't like the implication that he had become an antique too.",[16,26,27],{},"Somewhere I read that when Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was 92, he saw a pretty girl and muttered, \"What I wouldn't give to be 70 again!\"",[16,29,30],{},"Some of the most beautiful people I know are senior adults: wise, seasoned elders who lead the church by example; the kind widow who grows vegetables to share with her neighbors; the retired couple across the street who keep their lawn so carefully trimmed; another couple in their sixties who support our church's campus ministry; my 90-year-old grandmother who lives in a Florida retirement community. Joseph Campbell said, \"As a candle in a holy place, so is the beauty of an aged face.\"",[16,32,33],{},"I decided to ask some of my older friends, \"What's one thing that you wish younger people understood better about your stage of life?\" They responded:",[16,35,36],{},"\"I'm still the same person on the inside that I was when I was young.\"",[16,38,39],{},"\"As you grow older, you finally learn to accept yourself. By God's grace, I've become more self-confident and stopped comparing myself to others.\"",[16,41,42],{},"\"We 'chronologically-challenged' people are not ready to be put on a shelf. I still feel useful, and I want to stay busy and active.\"",[16,44,45],{},"\"I feel sad that our society seems to be losing its historical perspective. Older people are valuable because of the sense of history and experience they bring.\"",[16,47,48],{},"\"Strong family ties mean a lot as you grow older. If you want to grow old happily, make wise choices in marriage, and be committed to your family.\"",[16,50,51],{},"\"I wish I'd committed myself to serve the Lord earlier in my life.\"",[16,53,54],{},"Older Christians deserve respect as our spiritual parents in the Lord (1 Timothy 5:1, 2). They have much wisdom to share (Titus 2:2-5). We need to listen, laugh, and learn with them, and make sure their physical needs are provided (1 Timothy 5:4, 8). A French proverb sighs, \"If youth but had the knowledge; if age but had the power.\" Together in Christ, we can have both.",[16,56,57],{},"Is there an older person you need to encourage this week? A parent or grandparent? A neighbor or friend at church?",[16,59,60],{},"What kind of person will you become as you age? If God adds extra years to your life, how will you use them? I'd like to be the kind of older person described in Psalm 92:12-14—still growing like a fresh green tree, still bearing fruit, still praising God.",[16,62,63],{},"In the meantime, I think I'll phone my grandma just to say, \"I love you.\"",{"title":65,"searchDepth":66,"depth":66,"links":67},"",2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1996-09-08","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Faging-gracefully","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":18},"articles\u002Faging-gracefully",[81,82,83,84],"Intergenerational Ministry","Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Christian Unity","r00tBZVoBcthD8u4mvwhzmtLx6x75CprBVue_4wtRko",[87,92],{"title":88,"path":89,"stem":90,"description":91,"children":-1},"A Peek at the Devil’s Playbook","\u002Farticles\u002Fa-peek-at-the-devil-s-playbook","articles\u002Fa-peek-at-the-devil-s-playbook","It was a scandal that rocked Major League Baseball. The Houston Astros used a video camera in the center field seats to steal signs from opposing catchers, and players or team staffers banged on trash cans so the batter would know in advance what pitch to expect. Sign-stealing is a time-honored tradition in baseball, but doing so with electronic devices goes beyond what anyone considers fair. Opponents are easier to defeat if you know ahead of time what plays they plan to run.",{"title":93,"path":94,"stem":95,"description":96,"children":-1},"All Sufficient Grace for Even Me","\u002Farticles\u002Fall-sufficient-grace-for-even-me","articles\u002Fall-sufficient-grace-for-even-me","On an arid Arabian mountainside, a shepherd took a hard look at himself and asked, \"Who am I to be a leader?\" After all, he wasn't a good public speaker, and his hot temper sometimes got him into trouble—including one time in the past when he killed a man who was mistreating one of his countrymen. Was God's grace sufficient for Moses?"]