Better all the time.

People always look back at the "glory days". The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, that side you were on a few years back. I've heard that, "high school is the best time of your life". Or, "it won't get any better than college".

That's a bunch of crap.

This weekend, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, we loaded up some kayaks and headed to a waterway called Austin Creek. It had just rained the day before, giving us a little more water for a more exciting adventure. [It rains like mad around here by the way.] After dropping off one the vehicles for our return trip, three of us hopped on top of the boats strapped to the bed of the truck. I knew it was going to be a good day when it started off with me, leaning over the cab, arms extended grasping both sides of the red top, the wind whipping me in the face as we headed up a "Winding, One Lane Narrow Road". Thankfully no bugs ended up plastered to the windshield my teeth created.

We put in under a bridge, after muscling our kayaks down a steep bank, and we were on our way. Navigating over, around and through branches, rocks, bubbling water and placid river bends. As we floated and darted past houses nestled on the banks, singing silly camp songs and telling sillier jokes, my mind shot to the future. Looking back on these months, I have a feeling I'm going to see them as one of the best times of my life.

But I felt the same way in high school. And when I got to college, I thought, "this is it, it's the pinnacle, life at its best."

And here is my life, exceeding its own expectations.

I could often times be labeled an idealist, but I'm holding to the notion that life is just going to keep getting better and better. I know there will be hard times, sure. I know it's not always going to be all sunshine and roses, yes. But life is rich. And it continues to become more rich with each passing day. Not because I'm always going to be doing something extraordinary, something worthy of a book or screenplay, but because I'm on a journey. I'm on a journey to know God and the power of his resurrection. I'm seeking; and if I seek, I shall find. I'm knocking; and if I knock, the door shall be opened. How can I become dissatisfied with my present position? How can I look longingly towards the past? If each day parts of my old self are dying and I'm becoming more like Jesus? Why would I ever want to go back when I'm falling more deeply in love? Growing more in wisdom, knowledge and depth of insight? Being transformed by the renewing of my mind? Each morning, each day is loaded with the opportunity to be better than the one before because each day gives me the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the Almighty God.

And so, in the words of Frank Sinatra,
"the best is yet to come. and babe, won't it be fun?"