AGE

AGE

“Quality of Life Series”

5/25/04

LEADER: QUOTE #1

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?”

Leroy ''Satchel'' Paige 1906?-1982, American Baseball Player

LEADER: Featured on Oprah and CNN, Dr. Michael Brickey, President of The Ageless Lifestyles Institute, suggested we can be another age other than our biological one relative to our genetics, our mental outlook and the care we give ourselves.

LEADER: “Baby Boomers - Are you aging unnecessarily?” EXCERPTS http://www.drageless.com/ By Dr. Michael Brickey

Studies comparing identical and fraternal twins found that only 30% of longevity is genetic. That means that 70% is mental and lifestyle.

Today’s pace of change is staggering. Some people thrive on it and become stronger. Some are hopelessly lost, discouraged, and stressed out. To thrive in the midst of such rapid change, it is critical that you have a sense of purpose and be crystal clear about who you are, what you want, why, and how to achieve it.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #2

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“To resist the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor one must exercise, study, and love.”

Bonstettin 1116-1771 Best loved English Poet of the 18^th century

LEADER: (Say lightly) If you don’t think this study applies to you personally, you must be planning to check out early.

LEADER: Aging and Exercise: What You Need to Know to Stay Fit

By Stewart G. Eidelson, M.D. EXCERPTS

http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article292.html

Is it possible, like fine wine, to get better with age? In some ways, by staying healthy and remaining active, we can. In fact, studies show that older people who continue to have active lifestyles, experience less health problems as they age.

Dr Eidelson goes on to say “Lack of physical activity and poor diet combined are the second largest underlying cause of death in the United States (after smoking).

· Choose an activity that makes you breath a little harder. This is called endurance exercising. This will help build up your stamina and give you energy to do the things you want to do.

· . Do strength training. People lose 20 to 40 percent of their muscle – and along with it their strength – as they age. Scientists have found that a major reason people lose muscle is because they stop doing everyday activities that use muscle power.

· Do exercises that help your balance. For example, stand on one foot, then the other, without support. Get up from a sitting position without using your hands or arms. (Sandi’s mom says get dressed, even putting on your shoes and socks, standing up)

· Don’t forget to stretch! Stretching won't build your endurance or muscles, but it may help keep you limber and flexible.

· AND…Drink plenty of fluids when you are exercising. It is very easy to get dehydrated when sweating.

· While you can’t stop the aging process entirely, you can take steps to keep yourself as healthy as possible as you age.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #3

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #4

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“You're as old as you feel”

Elizabeth Arden

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #5

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.”

Muhammad Ali 1942-, American Boxer

LEADER: “Aging Is Natural” EXERPT

http://ohioline.osu.edu/ss-fact/0101.html

The aging process is a very natural one. It begins at conception and continues throughout the life cycle. The manner in which someone ages depends on heredity, physical health, nutrition, mental, and other unknown factors. Some scientists feel that human beings have a built-in "biological clock," which would run for 130 years if no diseases or illnesses affected the body.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #6

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.”

George Burns 1896-1996, American Comedy Actor

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #7

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau

1712-1778, Swiss Political Philosopher, Educationist, Essayist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #8

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.”

Benjamin Franklin

1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #9

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age.”

Thomas B. Aldrich 1836-1907, American Writer, Editor

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #10

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”

James A. Garfield 1831-1881, Twentieth President of the USA

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #11

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.”

Samuel Ullman

1840-1924, German-born American Educator, Writer, Poet

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Positive Thinking” By Pastor Ron EXCERPT

http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon2c/positive_thinking.htm

I read of an old man of eighty-seven who was killed in an accident. The autopsy revealed that he had been suffering from several diseases, any one of which could have killed him many years previously. His widow was asked the secret of his long life. She replied simply: ‘I don’t really know; except that, every night before he went to sleep, he said, “I’ll be better tomorrow”. That man displayed a positive attitude to life. A lady here in my home state of Tasmania who died earlier this year at the age of 94 left a substantial portion of her estate to a local charity. She had suffered from a debilitating disease and dementia for many years yet always made light of her difficulties. Her favorite remark was “maybe I’ll improve with age.”
Many books have been written about the power of positive thinking, yet it is only the examples of those around us who, regardless of their own difficult situations, can show us that much is to be gained by our attitude to life and to others. As we witness the circumstances of those near to us it becomes evident that there is no halfway position - you are either a positive or negative person.
So how can we change from being a negative person to being positive? We must seek to be influenced by Christ-like models. No matter how you were raised or who has influenced your life, you can move beyond those limitations by taking Christ as your example and consciously trying to live as he did. Today, more than ever, we need to be careful about the input we allow to form our beliefs. With TV, music, movies, and the rest of the media often presenting sinful life-styles, an emphasis on all that is bad and unwholesome values, we find ourselves constantly bombarded by attitudes and beliefs that are totally opposed to the Bible. Be careful about what you allow to form your opinions. The Bible is the only standard of truth. Evaluate all other opinions in light of its teachings. And the Bible contains the two great truths that must guide our attitude to life: that whoever believes in God shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), and that through repentance our past sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38,39)

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #12

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.”

Plato BC 427?-347?, Greek Philosopher

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #13

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

‘Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.”

Fred Astaire 1899-1987, American Dancer, Singer, Actor

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #14

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow up.”

Tryon Edwards 1809-1894, American Theologian

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #15

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“That man never grows old who keeps a child in his heart.”

Sir Richard Steele

1672-1729, British Dramatist, Essayist, Editor

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #16

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap into this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Sophia Loren 1934-, Italian Film Actress

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #17

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty to learn Greek. I am amazed no longer. Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.”

W. Somerset Maugham 1874-1965, British Novelist, Playwright

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “You Look Reasonably Fit”

http://r.searchhippo.com/r3.php?i=7&q=sermon%2Billustrations&u=http%3A%2F%2Felbourne.org%2Fsermons%2F

"On Winston Churchill's seventy-fifth birthday, a photographer said, 'I hope sir, that I will shoot your picture on your hundredth birthday.' Churchill answered: 'I don't see why not, young man. You look reasonably fit and healthy'." --William Manchester

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “IT'S WHAT YOU DO--NOT WHEN YOU DO IT”

United Technologies Corporation, in Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p.104.

http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=a&whichFile=age

Ted Williams, at age 42, slammed a home run in his last official time at bat.
Mickey Mantle, age 20, hit 23 home runs his first full year in the major leagues.

Golda Meir was 71 when she became Prime Minister of Israel.
William Pitt II was 24 when he became Prime minister of Great Britain.

George Bernard Shaw was 94 when one of his plays was first produced.
Mozart was just seven when his first composition was published.

Now how about this? Benjamin Franklin was a newspaper columnist at 16
and a framer of the United States Constitution when he was 81.

You're never too young or too old if you've got talent.
Let's recognize that age has little to do with ability.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: When are You too Old?

http://www.sermonillustrator.org/illustrator/sermon2d/when_are_you_too_old.htm

When asked how it was that she has lived so long, one 91-year-old woman replied, "I think God is testing the patience of my relatives."

When is "too old"? At what age do we give up? At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting, and Titian painted "Battle of Lepants" when he was 98.

At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote Farfetched Fables.

At 91, Samon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

At 90, Pablo Picasso still drew and engraved.

At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New

York's Carnegie Hall, and Pablo Casals, at 88, still performed cello concerts.

At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, A HISTORY OF

THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES, Leo Tolstoy completed I CANNOT BE SILENT, and Goethe, at the same age, finished FAUST.

At 81, Benjamin Franklin engineered the diplomacy which led to the adoption of the US Constitution.

When is one "too old"? Only on the day when we truly have nothing left to give. And the good news is this: that day never has to arrive!

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “For Whom The World Stands Aside”

http://r.searchhippo.com/r3.php?i=7&q=sermon%2Billustrations&u=http%3A%2F%2Felbourne.org%2Fsermons%2F

"The world stands aside," said David Jordan, "to let anyone pass who knows where he is going." This applies to those, who learn where they are going late in life as well as for the young. At age 53, Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female prime minister. At 64, Francis Chichester sailed alone around the world in a 53-foot yacht. At 65, Winston Churchill became British prime minister for the first time and started the epic struggle against Hitler. At 75, Ed Delano of California bicycled 3100 miles in 33 days to attend his 50th college reunion in Worcester, Massachusetts. At 76, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became Pope John XXIII and inaugurated major changes in his church. At 80, Grandma Moses, who had started painting in her late 70s, had her first one-woman exhibit. At 80, Winston Churchill returned to the House of Commons as a member of parliament and also exhibited 62 of his paintings. At 96, George C. Selbach scored a 110-yard hole-in-one at Indian River, Michigan. And on his 100th birthday, ragtime pianist Eubie Blake (1883-1983 Jazz pianist, dancer, and composer) exclaimed, "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Perspective”

http://r.searchhippo.com/r3.php?i=7&q=sermon%2Billustrations&u=http%3A%2F%2Felbourne.org%2Fsermons%2F

How's this for a great perspective on life when you're 100 years young?

His platform: Stop foreign aid. End welfare. Rewrite the tax code. He calls child care "another welfare thing" and says the country would be better off if women stayed home.

Stenhouse vows not to serve more than two terms. "I don't want to be there all my life," he reasons. --Desda Moss

LEADER: At seventy-eight year old Alan Greenspan was nominated by President Bush for his fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve board.

http://r.searchhippo.com/r3.php?i=7&q=sermon%2Billustrations&u=http%3A%2F%2Felbourne.org%2Fsermons%2F By Paul E. Holdcraft, {Cyclopedia of Bible Illustrations,}(New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press) 11 EXCERPT

Moses was eighty years of age when God called him to the leadership of Israel, and although Moses pleaded for exemption on the basis of his vocal defects, and other deficiencies, he didn't ask it on account of his age. It might interest some to know that octogenarians have made some marvelous contributions to art, science, literature, and religion. Cato, at eighty, began the study of Greek; Tennyson, at eighty, wrote "Crossing the Bar;" George Bernard Shaw has written some of his most famous plays while in his eighties; Scott, the commentator, began the study of Hebrew at eighty-seven; Verdi wrote "Ave Maria" at eighty-five; many judges of the Supreme Court have been nearer eighty than seventy; Dr. Howard A. Kelly continued to be a world-famous cancer specialist when past eighty. And these are but a few of a mighty host of men and women for whom God found use in their old age.

LEADER: “Greatest Contributions After Age 65” (By H.G.B.)

Our Daily Bread. March 2 EXCERPT

http://www.bible.org/illus/o/o-12.htm#TopOfPage

God never intends for us to retire from spiritual activity. The Bible says we can “still bring forth fruit in old age.” Even as Jesus kept the “best wine” for the last at the wedding in Cana (John 2:10), so He seeks to gather the most luscious clusters of the fruit of the Spirit from the fully ripened harvest of our lives.

You may be sure God wouldn’t keep you on this earth if He didn’t have a worthwhile ministry for you to accomplish. So keep on serving the Lord!

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #18

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.”

Samuel Ullman

1840-1924, German-born American Educator, Writer, Poet

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Oliver Wendell Holmes”

Bits and Pieces, December 13, 1990

http://www.bible.org/illus/o/o-12.htm#TopOfPage

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was and still is generally regarded as one of the most outstanding justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was known as the Great Dissenter because he disagreed with the other judges so much. Holmes sat on the Supreme Court until he was 91. Two years later, President Roosevelt visited him and found him reading Plato.

“Why?” FDR asked.

“To improve my mind,” Holmes answered.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #19

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Les Brown

1945-, American Speaker, Author, Trainer, Motivator Lecturer

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #20

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

Source Unknown

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #21

from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly find - at the age of fifty, say - that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about...It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.”

Agatha Christie 1890-1976 Best mystery writer of all time

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #22

from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live...[We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

Albert Einstein (in a letter to Otto Julusburger)

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Older And Better” Our Daily Bread 10/21/99

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/odb-10-21-99.shtml

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

When Paul Molitor of the Minnesota Twins baseball team got his 3,000th hit as a major leaguer, he won a small victory for everyone over 40 years old. He showed that he still had great skills at an age when most players had long ago retired.

No matter how hard we try, though, none of us can hold back the natural processes of aging. We can exercise, eat right, put on moisturizing lotions, but we still get older. That undeniable truth is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16, which states, "Our outward man is perishing."

Enough of the bad news. Let's get to the good news. At the same time our bodies rush relentlessly toward destruction, we can enjoy a youthful vitality in our walk with God. Through the constant renewal of our spirit (v.16), we grow more and more prepared to be with God. Spiritual age, then, does not have the same effect as physical age. Instead of slowing down as we walk longer with God, we should be enjoying a more sprightly step. The longer we fellowship with Him, the better off we should be.

Yes, we should be growing spiritually. The afflictions we bear are helping us store up heavenly glory, not weighing us down. It's true--if you're walking with Christ, you're not just getting older, you're getting better. --JDB

THINKING IT OVER
To what extent does our society emphasize
physical beauty and downplay spiritual attributes?
What can I do to improve my spiritual fitness?

As we grow more Christ-like we grow more beautiful.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #23

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.”

Daniel Francois Esprit Auber 1782-1871, French Composer

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Job 12:12

Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #24

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“I'm 65 and I guess that puts me in with the geriatrics. But if there were fifteen months in every year, I'd only be 48. That's the trouble with us. We number everything. Take women, for example. I think they deserve to have more than twelve years between the ages of 28 and 40.”

James Thurber 1894-1961, American Humorist, Illustrator

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #25

from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“Old age is fifteen years older than I am.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “One Sure Thing”

9/30/99 By Mike, Christian Fellowship Devotionals

http://www.cfdevotionals.org/devpg99/de990930.htm

Heb 9:27-28 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, (NAS)

There are groups working on anti-aging and anti-adamic drugs. Others are delving deep into microbiology trying to unwrap just why we age and die. I've heard that the effects of aging begin around age three. From the time we are three years old, we are beginning the process of dying. It is possible they might even succeed in pushing death back to some extent, with God's consent. But we are still mortal beings. We are not impervious to serious injury or fatality from any one of a vast array of illnesses and accidents.

Ps 103:14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. (NAS)

I find it ironic that the one thing we can not change is the one thing we spend a good deal of time, effort and worry over. There is a second part to the verse that we can do something about. We know there is a judgment for each of us after we die. There are different judgments for believers and non-believers, etc. true. But there is at least one judgment for everyone.

Since we must be judged, we should prepare for that certainty. We can do that by learning about the judgments and what will be expected or required. The simplest way is to accept the provision that Jesus Christ made for us with His death on the cross. He died to make a way for us to be forgiven of our failings and made perfect in the sight of the Father. Those who accept this salvation will be accepted by the Father in Rev. 20:11.

We will stand before Christ for our actions as believers for rewards as well. We will not stand before the Lord for our eternal destiny. That is already sealed if Jesus is your Savior. We are given instructions on how to live a life that will reap rewards. It is not full of don'ts, just two do's. Love God with all your heart, soul and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. If everyone lived by those two rules, this society would be very different. If we lived lives preparing for the one sure thing that we will face, knowing that God cares so much that He paved the way, I dare say we would not recognize this world.

Lord Jesus - keep our time in this world focused with an eternal perspective. Amen.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Old Age” By Woodrow Kroll

http://www.backtothebible.org/minute/today.htm/21600

Someone has said that you can tell you're getting older when your knees buckle and your belt won't. Or when most everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.

Well, the Bible has some encouraging words about our older years. In Psalm 92, verse 14, we read, "They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing."

God assures those who have placed their faith in Christ that they will never reach a point when they no longer have a purpose. Even in their latter years, they will be useful and an encouragement to those around them.

You may be surprised to learn that God has used many older people to do great things for Him. Moses was 80 when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt. At 85, Caleb conquered mountains. John Wesley preached until he was 90, and Albert Schweitzer ran a hospital in Africa at age 89.

So if you're getting older, take encouragement. God can still use you, no matter what your age. You just need to keep your life right with Him.

Want to know more? You'll find encouragement in your Bible. Read God's Word today and enjoy getting older.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “What's Your Focus?”

Our Daily Bread August 6, 2001

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/odb-08-06-01.shtml

The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

A company boasted that its anti-aging cream could "banish" wrinkles, and was asked to prove it in court. Findings showed that the cream did tighten skin, but only temporarily. The wrinkles were soon obvious again. Millions of people swallow such wild claims because they've believed the myths behind them: that the aging process is unacceptable and that undoing it is possible. The focus is on visible effects—all temporary—which is discouraging for those who trust in them.

In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul emphasized that physical decline is inevitable. He said, "Our outward man is perishing." But Paul didn't lose heart. Here's why: "The inward man is being renewed day by day." Because of this daily inner renewal, our focus doesn't need to be on the visible things, which are temporary, but instead on the invisible things, which are eternal.

When eternity is our primary focus, we are more able to recognize the temporary nature of our troubles. Paul called these "momentary" and "light" compared to the greater weight of eternal gain and glory they are working for us (v.17). That's not just another wild claim. It's a promise of God's Word, guaranteed by His power. This we can believe! (JEY)

Beyond earth's sorrows, the joys of heaven,
Eternal blessings with Christ my Lord;
Earth's weeping ended, earth's trials over,
Sweet rest in Jesus, O blest reward! —Gilmore

Earthly troubles fade in the light of heavenly joys.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: 2 Corinthians 4:16

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: 2 Corinthians 4:18

while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #26

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“Someday you will read in the papers that Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit shall live forever.”

Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899, American Evangelist

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #27

from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again.”

Captain Jean-Luc Picard

(played by Patrick Stewart in the film “Star Trek: Generations)

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #28

http://www.entwagon.com/cgi-bin/quotes/quotes.pl?cat=Age_And_Aging

“While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be.”

Amos Bronson Alcott

1799-1888, American Educator, Social Reformer

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE #29

from: http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_age.html

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

Abraham Lincoln

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “The Secret to a Long Life” EXCERPT

http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/frames/aging_frameset.htm

Weeks after her passing Amy retrieved the box from Grandma's closet. She took it out to the kitchen table where they shared many happy moments together. Placing the old wooden box on the table, she carefully opened it.
"My secret to a long life." Her heart raced with the thought that Grandma had gone through all this trouble just for her. She held the note close to her chest and said out loud, "I love you Grandma, thanks!"
Inside the envelope was one index card. On it were written four words..."Live until you die!"

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Psalm 90:1-17

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn man back into dust
And say, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in Your sight

Are like yesterday when it passes by,

Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.

In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.

As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.

Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,

That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.

Let Your work appear to Your servants

And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;

And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “The Best Is Yet To Be”

Our Daily Bread 5/16/97

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/odb-05-16-97.shtml

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. --Psalm 90:12

Every year at about this time, I think a little more seriously about a topic that interests everyone but concerns only those who have reached certain age plateaus. The topic is "getting older." The reason I think about it at this time of year is that I celebrate another year of life during April.

The interesting thing about this aging process is that each of us faces the same inescapable prospect, yet we all handle it differently. It all depends on our perspective.

Our lifetime passes quickly, as the writer of Psalm 90 pointed out so bluntly (v.10). Because that is true, we need the kind of attitude poet Robert Browning, 1812-1889, British Poet, displayed when he wrote, "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made." Life is cumulative, Browning was saying, and each of our days is a foundation for tomorrow.

For us to use those days properly, we need to develop a positive outlook on the passage of time. In Psalm 90, we learn that a correct view of life includes a search for wisdom (v.12), a dependence on God's mercy (v.14), and a request for God's favor (v.17). As we maintain this perspective, we will enjoy the passage of time. --JDB

Fill up each hour with what will last,
Buy up the moments as they go;
The life above, when this is past,
Is the ripe fruit of life below. --Bonar

What you will be tomorrow depends on

the choices you make today.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: QUOTE # 30

“When rushing to turn tomorrows into yesterdays, one loses the joy of today. Likewise, hurrying to use up one’s next moment loses the use of the present. By using each moment to its fullest, at life’s end one discovers it has been a full and meaningful life.”

Sandi McRae

HAVE SOMEONE READ: “Gentle Rebuke” Our Daily Bread, April 12

http://www.bible.org/illus/o/o-12.htm#TopOfPage

The great evangelist George Whitefield was relating the difficulties of the gospel ministry to some friends. He said that he was weary of the burdens and was glad that his work would soon be over and that he would depart this earthly scene to be with Christ. The others admitted having similar feelings -- all except one, a Mr. Tennant. Noting this, Whitefield tapped him on the knee and said, “Well, Brother Tennant, you are the oldest among us; do you not rejoice to think that your time is so near at hand when you will be called Home?”

The old man answered bluntly that he had no wish about it. When pressed for something more definite, he added, “I have nothing to do with death. My business is to live as long as I can, and as well as I can, and serve my Savior as faithfully as I can, until He thinks it’s time to call me Home.”

Whitefield accepted that word as a gentle rebuke from the Lord, and it helped him go on with his work calmly and patiently.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life,

But the years of the wicked will be shortened.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Isaiah 46:4Even to your old age I will be the same,

And even to your graying years I will bear you!

I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

HAVE SOMEONE READ: Isaiah 40:31
Yet those who wait for the LORD

Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

HAVE SOMEONE READ Proverbs 9:11
For by me your days will be multiplied,

And years of life will be added to you.

LEADER: “To Live your Life Again” EXCERPT

365 Guidelines for Daily Living – Ministry Harold J. Sala dailydevotional@purposedrivenlife.com
“If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” I put this question to the late Oswald Sanders when he was 85 years old. The one-time attorney turned missionary statesman and Bible college president said he would not do anything differently. He had no regrets in
having served the Lord. For him life had been an adventure and he had invested his life well for the cause of Jesus Christ. How about you? If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently? In some cases, what’s done is done. But in other cases, what you would do if you could do it over again can yet be done. What’s
to keep you from making an in-flight correction and beginning to move towards that goal? Instead of regretting what you haven’t done or weren’t able to do, take positive steps to live your life all over again - starting now. It’s possible, and until your frail body has been deprived
of life and breath, it’s never too late to begin anew.

STOP AT 10 MINUTES TILL FOR

PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISES:

CUT AND DISTRIBUTE FOR READING:

QUOTE #2

“To resist the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor one must exercise, study, and love.”

Bonstettin 1116-1771 Best loved English Poet of the 18^th century

QUOTE #3

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.”

Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner, 1964

QUOTE #4

“You're as old as you feel”

Elizabeth Arden

QUOTE #5

“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.”

Muhammad Ali 1942-, American Boxer

QUOTE #6

“You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.”

George Burns 1896-1996, American Comedy Actor

QUOTE #7

“The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.”

Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778, Swiss Political Philosopher, Educationist, Essayist

QUOTE #8

“Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.”

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat

QUOTE #9

“To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age.”

Thomas B. Aldrich 1836-1907, American Writer, Editor

QUOTE #10

“If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”

James A. Garfield 1831-1881, Twentieth President of the USA

QUOTE #11

“Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.”

Samuel Ullman 1840-1924, German-born American Educator, Writer, Poet

“Positive Thinking” By Pastor Ron EXCERPT

QUOTE #12

“He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.”

Plato BC 427?-347?, Greek Philosopher

QUOTE #13

‘Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young.”

Fred Astaire 1899-1987, American Dancer, Singer, Actor

QUOTE #14

“Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow up.”

Tryon Edwards 1809-1894, American Theologian

QUOTE #15

“That man never grows old who keeps a child in his heart.”

Sir Richard Steele 1672-1729, British Dramatist, Essayist, Editor

QUOTE #16

Sophia Loren 1934-, Italian Film Actress

QUOTE #17

W. Somerset Maugham 1874-1965, British Novelist, Playwright

“You Look Reasonably Fit”

“IT'S WHAT YOU DO--NOT WHEN YOU DO IT”

Ted Williams, at age 42, slammed a home run in his last official time at bat.
Mickey Mantle, age 20, hit 23 home runs his first full year in the major leagues.

Golda Meir was 71 when she became Prime Minister of Israel.
William Pitt II was 24 when he became Prime minister of Great Britain.

George Bernard Shaw was 94 when one of his plays was first produced.
Mozart was just seven when his first composition was published.

Now how about this? Benjamin Franklin was a newspaper columnist at 16
and a framer of the United States Constitution when he was 81.

You're never too young or too old if you've got talent.
Let's recognize that age has little to do with ability.

“When are You too Old?”

When asked how it was that she has lived so long, one 91-year-old woman replied, "I think God is testing the patience of my relatives."

When is "too old"? At what age do we give up? At 100, Grandma Moses was still painting, and Titian painted "Battle of Lepants" when he was 98.

At 93, George Bernard Shaw wrote Farfetched Fables.

At 91, Samon de Valera served as president of Ireland.

At 90, Pablo Picasso still drew and engraved.

At 89, Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest recitals in New

York's Carnegie Hall, and Pablo Casals, at 88, still performed cello concerts.

At 82, Winston Churchill wrote the four-volume work, A HISTORY OF

THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES, Leo Tolstoy completed I CANNOT BE SILENT, and Goethe, at the same age, finished FAUST.

At 81, Benjamin Franklin engineered the diplomacy which led to the adoption of the US Constitution.

When is one "too old"? Only on the day when we truly have nothing left to give. And the good news is this: that day never has to arrive!

“For Whom The World Stands Aside”

“Perspective”

How's this for a great perspective on life when you're 100 years young?

Henry Stenhouse, a 100 year old Goldsboro, N.C. eye doctor running for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd District, figures time is on his side. He calls his two opponents in today's Republican primary "capable." But, he says, "They don't have the advantage I have." What's that? "Perspective," says the man aiming to be Congress's first centenarian. The district hasn't had a GOP representative since Reconstruction, but Stenhouse is undeterred. His platform: Stop foreign aid. End welfare. Rewrite the tax code. He calls child care "another welfare thing" and says the country would be better off if women stayed home. Stenhouse vows not to serve more than two terms. "I don't want to be there all my life," he reasons. --Desda Moss

QUOTE #18

“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.”

Samuel Ullman 1840-1924, German-born American Educator, Writer, Poet

“Oliver Wendell Holmes”

“Why?” FDR asked.

“To improve my mind,” Holmes answered.

QUOTE #19

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

Les Brown 1945-, American Speaker, Author, Trainer, Motivator Lecturer

QUOTE #20

“We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

Source Unknown

QUOTE #21

Agatha Christie 1890-1976 Best mystery writer of all time

QUOTE #22

Albert Einstein (in a letter to Otto Julusburger)

QUOTE #23

“Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.”

Daniel Francois Esprit Auber 1782-1871, French Composer

Job 12:12

“Older And Better”

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

THINKING IT OVER
To what extent does our society emphasize
physical beauty and downplay spiritual attributes?
What can I do to improve my spiritual fitness?

As we grow more Christ-like we grow more beautiful.

QUOTE #24

James Thurber 1894-1961, American Humorist, Illustrator

QUOTE #25

“Old age is fifteen years older than I am.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

2 Corinthians 4:16

2 Corinthians 4:18

QUOTE #26

Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899, American Evangelist

“One Sure Thing”

Heb 9:27-28 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, (NAS)

Ps 103:14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. (NAS)

Lord Jesus - keep our time in this world focused with an eternal perspective. Amen.

“Old Age” By Woodrow Kroll

Someone has said that you can tell you're getting older when your knees buckle and your belt won't. Or when most everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.

Well, the Bible has some encouraging words about our older years. In Psalm 92, verse 14, we read, "They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing."

So if you're getting older, take encouragement. God can still use you, no matter what your age. You just need to keep your life right with Him.

Want to know more? You'll find encouragement in your Bible. Read God's Word today and enjoy getting older.

“What's Your Focus?”

The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18