33 Candles, by T.Y.

On this day, 33 years ago my parents welcomed me into the world. It was the roughest labour and pregnancy for my mother, but finally their first son arrived. I was named after my father, not only carrying on his last name, but his whole name.

Fast forward to the present, I look back at my life and the only thing that comes to mind is, 30-something (bleh). When you are in your early 20s thinking about your invincibility, you are convinced that by the time you are 30, you will have accomplished ‘X’ and by 40 ‘Y’ and possibly ‘Z’, so once you hit 50, you are already in ‘AB’ and beyond.

Then you wake up each new year in your 30s, and well, you have to wake up from your 20-something proverbial dream.

(Just let the somber music soak in …)

Last night, my wife asked me how I was feeling about turning 33 … and well, unfortunately, I was honest. Brutally honest. The kinda honesty that cuts through cold butter without trying (I might have just made that up).

Cliff notes version: Life’s hard, and I am the victim and the culprit.

This is the reason I stopped celebrating my birthdays. I’m a recovering mal-adjusted narcissist. Why a day that will encourage me to look inward? I have every other day for that.

No. Not this day! NO!
Why not? Because people are dying. A lot.

Yes, we are in a global crisis. A Pandemic unlike anything we have ever seen before. It has basically shut down our society. No post-apocalyptic, alien invasion, or Marvel movie could have prepared us for this, as much as we would have wanted them to.

The reality is with so much going on around us, I can’t help, but to remember the words of Moses, the man of God in Psalm 90, to teach us to number our days. It’s sobering.

This day, I am compelled to think about the medical professionals who are risking their lives to save people. I think about those who are most vulnerable to the spread of the virus. I think about our politicians, regardless of how you feel about them, who have tough calls to make; I do not envy their positions. Finally, I think about other countries all around the world, how this is not just affecting America, but virtually the whole planet. Let’s remember all of them in our prayers.

If I could make a birthday wish, it would be that in a year, when I am blowing out 34 candles, Lord-willing (James 5), that I can look back and say by God’s grace, the world rallied together to help each other survive a crisis (not on infinite earths, just our earth). That we experienced chaos on every level of our society, but God healed us as we turned to Him. That we stopped looking inward so we can help others, in the midst of it all.