31 years.
That’s how long it has been since I graduated high school. And subsequently that’s how long it has been since I’ve seen most of my graduating class.
Had a random invitation the other week to meet up with some old classmates. Two to be precise. The reason? My old school was honoring a former classmate for his life long accomplishments. Thus the odd intracation on social media led to a saturday morning breakfast, filling in the gaps of the past 31 years. Mostly on my end since the two of them had remained in contact over the years.
It’s such an interesting experience. If the knowledge I have of tumbling towards 50 in 2026 is looming large these days, nothing cements it more than finding myself in what felt like a surreal time capsule. Here we are, three souls who’s memories remain trapped in time attempting to contextualize the very real passage of time.
But of course that brings a ton of emotions along with it. Beginning with the fact that fhere I am sitting across the table from successful architects here to celebrate the lifelong achievements of a doctor. One of whom was voted in our graduating year book “most likely to be Prime Minister. I was voted most likey to be a bum for the rest of his life.
Me. The same one who’s life story travels the failed attempts at music and ministry. The same one who has spent the last 13 years driving a school bus and making $30,000 a year (with christian and spring and summer breaks off of course).
I suppose that’s the closest I could come to living up to the prophecy of my graduating yearbook.
It’s interesting. I was telling those two former classmates about a particular pivotal year of my life following our graduation. The same year saw two of my closest friends make decisions that would go on to define the rest of their now extremely successful lives. One would go off to school to become an investor in multi-million dollar businesses. The other would go off to school to become a professional musician. I had both of them come to me and try and convince me to go with them. They saw potential in me and believed this journey could change the course of our lives.
One of them even tossed a book on the table (How To Win Friends and Influence People) with the request to read it before making my decision.
I ultimatley chose not to follow either of them. I know now that my life likely would look a lot different had I done so. And yet here I am, sitting at a table across from two familiar faces from my past being reminded that what makes a life is the very real path shaped by the very real succession of our choices. Choices that are not reducible to a singular conception of some kind of self determining will. Reality is far more dynamic.
My former classmates responded to some of these musings by pointing out that its all about where we place the emphasis regarding what is important. This certainly applies to our relationship with God. This also applies to what this lived life looks like in relationship to God. To grow to learn. To come to the table as those who have a perspective to offer. Whether we are successful architects, receiving prestigious awards, or whether we have spent the last 13 years driving a school bus. What fills in the gaps between our careers and our identity is how this plays in to who we have become in the process of living in the inbetween spaces.
This is where we find the ability to navigate the what and the why of our continued journey. We never stop making choices, and we never cease having the chance to understand how we arrived at such choices and why. Perhaps that’s what makes the whoie enterprise worth investing in.
The Stories of my Life 