All Grown Up ???

I’ve read that the lengthening adolescent period in our country is becoming a problem. Americans are taking a lot longer to grow up. Yesterday, it was made clear to me again that people my age can indeed be grown-ups, even though I don’t feel like one myself.

The first eye opener came a couple of years ago at a marching band contest I was attending. I was looking through the program and found that I recognized the names of most all of the band directors. It’s not because they were directors when I was in high school. I knew these people because I had gone to college with most of them. There were people my age running high school marching band programs. I thought only grown-ups did that kind of stuff.

Yesterday, I got some news about a former college roommate of mine, Dake (rhymes with rake). He was my roommate during my sophomore year. I was in his wedding and he in mine. I was even at the hospital when his first daughter was born. After college, he and his wife took teaching jobs at Meade County HS. They were there a few years before they accepted assignments as missionaries to Indonesia. In addition to what we would consider normal missionary work, they also worked at a school teaching the children of other missionaries. They came back to the US about 3 years ago. His wife started teaching again, and Dake enrolled in seminary at Louisville. They had another daughter along the way, and I just learned yesterday that they’re going back overseas. They’re in Virginia right now training before they leave at the end of December. I talked to Dake’s mom yesterday, and the only thing she can tell me is that they’re going to Central Asia. For safety reasons, they can’t divulge the name of the country as Christianity is not accepted there. Please pray for Dake and his family. Here’s a grown man and woman, sensing God’s call on their lives, packing up their family and moving to a country on the other side of the globe where they could become martyrs for their faith. I thought only grown-ups did that kind of stuff.

I am 33, have completed college, have a grown-up job, found and joined a church all by myself, been married, divorced, and am helping to raise three little girls, the oldest of which is already 9, but for whatever reason I still feel like I haven’t grown up. If I can ever stop laughing at farts, that will be a step in the right direction.

UPDATE: Another friend of mine from college, Jim Bob (that's what everyone called him) Outland had a saying that I've always found to be true. He said "Butt gas is always funny." I've been around some that was pretty close to not being funny, but it's still good for a laugh.