Seize the day, at least one of them and see what happens

I was born 18,064 days ago today. I can hardly believe it. It seems forever ago when we measure our lives in terms of days.

After the first few years of life we no longer really think of our lives in terms of days. Days seem too small, too insignificant. We begin to say "next year I want to do this or that." We look back and say "a couple of years ago I used to do ..." As a result we trivialize what can happen in a single day.

Yet the truth is that each day we have the opportunity to change the course of our lives and that of the world around us. The decisions we make today will determine the future. I could give you two decisions in my life that did just that.

The first had to do with my choice of college. I had every intention of going to the University of Southern California. When I got my acceptance letter I was set to go. Of course I had a girlfriend who had other thoughts and a $4,000 tuition bill that I had to account for. In the end I decided to stay home and go to UCONN.

On the day I decided where I was going to college, I changed my future. I have no regrets over my decision today but as I look back on my life, I know that it would have been very different if I had chosen to go west.

A second decision came back in 1985 when I decided to accept the call to the First Baptist Church of Norwich. I had interviewed in four different congregations that Spring. Norwich was third on the list as Lori and I began deliberating where we wanted to go. But it became quite clear soon afterward that this was the place God was calling us. So in March we told the church we were serious and informed the other three that we were no longer interested. The day we made that decision, our future changed.

I have given you two days in my life. Now name your two. We all have those days that define our lives. The truth is that we make decisions every day. We do things that shape who we are every day. We build a life one day at a time. That's why we can start over if we mess up. That's why we can turn around and change direction if we feel a little lost.

I have lived over 18,000 days and I expect I will have at least another 2,000 - 5,000 if I'm lucky. So I'm going to try to do at least one good thing each day and see where that leads me. I bet if I can do it, I will be even happier the next time I check to see how many days I have lived.

Cal