50 for 50

Well, I made it.  I accomplished something that is certainly not unique, nor uncommon.  Many of you have reached this point, some long ago, some more recently.  The rest of you are still approaching the place where I now find myself.  I'm 50.

(pause for a polite smattering of applause)

I feel neither frightened nor elated about turning 50.  It feels like pretty much every other day, except that the tens digit at the beginning of my age has incremented.  Of course, that's nothing new ... not even for me, as I've had it happen four other times in my life.

Yet somehow, 50 seems significant.  So, I thought, in light of turning fifty, maybe I should try to do something different.  Some people decide to climb mountains (I've done that, sort of) or learn new languages (I've done that, long ago) or change careers (I've done that, and then returned).  One friend of mine recently turned 40 and decided to do some unthinkable amount of exercises each day all based around the number 40.  While I could use a bit more exercise, that's not the challenge for me.

My challenge to myself for this year is what I'm calling "50 for 50".  Simply this ... I'm challenging myself to write 50 blog entries this year.  Many of you are thinking something along the lines of "You know, Jonny, there are 52 weeks in a year".  I do know that, but I thought I'd give myself a couple of weeks off, 'cause you never know what's going to happen.

This first entry is fairly easy ... I mean it's practically writing itself.  I just needed to tell you that I had a birthday (no need to sing) and now I need to tell you why I'm writing 50 for 50.  As mentioned above, I wanted some sort of challenge for the year, something that I had not done before, something that would stretch me, something that would force me to focus a little each week.

When my wife asked me why I wanted to do this, I told her that I was hoping to provide a little encouragement, maybe even some inspiration.  After 50 years of life, I trust that I have something to say on a subject or two that might be meaningful, not only to me, but also to someone else.

I'm calling this blog Grace Invasion because my life experience says that the grace of God is what makes life worth living.  In fact, it's simply what makes life livable. I plan to write about life and about grace (the real answer to so many of life's difficulties) and about other stuff that crosses my mind.

II Corinthians 2:9  "My grace is sufficient for you..."