As I was out in the community visiting the other day, I turned off of Highway 91 South on my way to see Mrs. Mims. As I continued on my journey, I suddenly realized that I was driving down the road with my turn signal blinking away. Then it hit me - "You're driving like the old folks!" (or maybe I could just blame it on my car since it has a few years of use on it and a bunch of miles in the rearview mirror!).

I will be turning 50 this year, so I guess the thought of growing older is on my mind more than it used to be. There was a time when I thought 50 was really old, but I have come to realize that I was wrong! What do young people know about aging anyway?

Let me quickly say that I have lots of love and respect for older people, and I have found that they have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that they are usually very eager to share. When I get around retired pastors, I become like a dry sponge ready to absorb what they have to offer to me from their decades of dealing with churches, people and situations. Nevertheless, we should not deny that as we age we do become slower in our actions, reactions and abilities to respond, resulting in us sometimes driving down the road unaware that the blinker is still blinking or doing some other out of place thing. But most of those actions alone are small issues that usually do no lasting harm, so we should just smile and continue on our way.

Psalm 90 has some things to say that can help us bring time and aging into a proper and Godly perspective. This psalm was probably written by Moses (who himself by then was well advanced in years), sometime during the 40 years that Israel spent wandering in the wilderness on the journey to the land that God had promised to them.

Verse 2 reminds us that God is not limited or affected by time as we are. It states, "Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God" (NIV).

We are well aware of the changes and increasingly frequent adversities that our bodies undergo over time. In the past six months, I have been to four different doctors, each for a different reason. The interesting part is that I did not go to any of them because I was sick--I felt fine. But as we age, we obviously need to keep a closer watch on health concerns. This is again a reminder of the limited nature of the physical body. But we can rejoice that God is eternal and unchanging. He will never grow old, forgetful and unable to meet our needs.

There is no limit to the many things that remind us that everyday we are getting older physically--a new pain, a new problem, a new predicament. But we need not despair if we are living our days--whether few or many- -in obedience to God. So if you see me driving around with my turn signal flashing, just smile and remember that we are all growing older, but God is unchanging, and we can always trust Him.