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My wife lectured me again this morning about my reference to my “last remaining days”!\u00a0 I am not dying, well that is not completely true, we are all dying, or at least headed toward the end of this earthly life.\u00a0 If you are 69, which I will be in a few weeks, you are a lot closer than if you are 35, or at least according to the actuarial tables!\u00a0 However, no one knows when they will leave this earth, so we should all be prepared.\u00a0 I’m prepared, so I’m not talking about that,\u00a0 I’m talking about making the most of the time you are here!<\/p>\n
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Sherelene and I did the daily Intouch Devotional together early this morning, we do every morning.\u00a0 In a moment I will share it with you, but first I need to say something about this getting the most out of life thing….\u00a0 Actually it’s not “getting”<\/span><\/strong> the most out of life, it’s “giving”<\/strong><\/span> the most to your life!\u00a0 I was thinking this morning about one of the most wonderful men I ever knew, a man named Charlie Harris.\u00a0 Charlie went on to be with the Lord a number of years ago, but I still think of him often.\u00a0 Charlie wasn’t famous, wasn’t particularly well known, he wasn’t a gifted athlete, or an actor, or “worldly” wealthy.\u00a0 He was wealthy in the most important way a man can be, he was loved, and loved by everyone that knew him! When Charlie died the out pouring in my home town was amazing, few famous people ever have had such an outpouring of sadness and grief.\u00a0 You see Charlie poured himself into life, into others.\u00a0 He was a kind, honest, sincere, man of real character and integrity.\u00a0 Men and women like that make a real impact on their families, communities, and the body of Christ.\u00a0 If you knew Charlie you felt he was one of your best friends, and you felt he considered you the same.\u00a0 I’m not sure I have known hardly anyone else in my life that so many people genuinely loved.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because he loved them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following devotional is sagely advice about how to stay young, and how to live young regardless of your age.\u00a0 I doubt the person that wrote this knew Charlie, but they captured his spirit all the same!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Psalm 103:1-5<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A psalm of David.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We all want to live each day fully. To do that, we need to maintain a youthful attitude instead of letting ourselves grow old and useless to the kingdom. Here are some suggestions for staying young all our life.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n First, we need to keep laughing. We are never more like children than when we are having fun with our friends. Yet in order to laugh, we at times must let go of emotional baggage. Some people have been hurt deeply, and their laughter is buried under old pains. But clutching past bitterness and feelings of rejection will age us quickly. Jesus Christ is willing to remove all that ugliness when we lay it down, which we do by forgiving ourselves and others\u2014perhaps repeatedly. Every day is a fresh start and another chance for our indwelling God to help us smile and laugh.<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, and most importantly, we must keep leaning on the Lord. If we live with childlike trust, God will bless our life and use us to bring blessing upon others. He will give a sense of contentment so deep that no trial or spiritual attack can shake us.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As believers, we have the opportunity to take part in the Lord\u2019s work every day of our life. If we give up before He wants us to stop, we cheat both God and ourselves.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Charlie didn’t cheat God, and I don’t intend to either!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blessings,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the pilgrim<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My wife lectured me again this morning about my reference to my “last remaining days”!\u00a0 I am not dying, well that is not completely true, we are all dying, or at least headed toward the end of this earthly life.\u00a0 If you are 69, which I will be in a few weeks, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13021,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016\/revisions\/13021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.<\/strong><\/span>
\n2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 may I never forget the good things he does for me.<\/strong><\/span>
\n3 He forgives all my sins<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and heals all my diseases.<\/strong><\/span>
\n4 He redeems me from death<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and crowns me with love and tender mercies.<\/strong><\/span>
\n5 He fills my life with good things.<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My youth is renewed like the eagle\u2019s!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nSecond, we should keep longing. That means we ought to keep chasing our dreams and working toward goals. When a person wakes up with something to accomplish or a friend to aid, he or she experiences more of the joy life has to offer. As soon as we settle for watching the world go by, we start to age.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n