Sage Life

Hi, I'm Joanne Dickner, Memaw with It's Storytime Memaw, an answered prayer for stories that point children to God on the Truth Network for kids. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. It's a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now.

Oh yes, it does. And interestingly, Sam, the main man, he had the topic for tonight and he bailed on us. So not unlike that situation, but fortunately we have a topic that we have the world's leading expert on because he is in fact the world's oldest man.

And so Harold, what a perfect person to describe tonight's topic. Well, I think that there are a lot of fallacies or as you prefer misconceptions associated with growing old. I was one of those people that never expected to be anywhere near the age I am now, 83. I had figured I'd be expired long before that due to stupidity more than anything else. But there's a lot of things that we can look at as young people and see older people and say, man, I don't want that. But then when you get there, you find out that's not so bad after all.

But the ultimate soft yogurt is going to be the inside joke. So for those of you who, you know, I'm trying to think of the name of the movie. Billy Crystal's in it, the one when they get old, they're getting older, which was 39. That's not old. This is when we need Sam.

Yeah, Sam would know. The movie has to do with City Slickers. That's the name of that movie.

City Slickers. And where Billy Crystal goes on to describe, you know, what happens at every age group. And when you get into your 80s, you walk around the mall looking for the ultimate soft yogurt. And so Harold being a, you know. He's venerable. He's the only one here, venerable.

I'm different. And saginessness or some, what's the word? Sajacin. He has. Sajacis.

He has. Sagacity. All that.

And then some. But anyway, so here's my question if you're listening. What did you think it was going to be like when you were 80? Or what did you think it was going to be like when you were 90? Or maybe you're 20 now and you think, wow, this is what it's going to be.

You know, well, we're here tonight to talk about some of those misconceptions and then some of those things that, you know, may actually be on the money. But one of the things that I find fascinating is that whole idea of the masculine journey does have stages, right? And we've talked about it many, many times at the stage of the masculine journey are what's number one, Jim? Babies. Babies. Childhood. Right.

And so for boyhood, I think is what it's called as far as, oh, man. Well, you have to allow for us. So give the mic to Rodney. Rodney knows these. You have to allow for us females. Next one's a cowboy. So anyway, what?

Rodney don't know me. In the boyhood stage, right, what does a boy need to hear? That he is loved. Right, the apple of his father's eye, right, you know, he's fully loved, that kind of stuff.

And the second stage is? Cowboy ranger. Correct. And he needs to find out.

He has what it takes. Very good. Yeah. Very good. Harold, jump on in there.

And the third stage is? Warrior. Can you do it?

Yeah, warrior. Very good. Jim had that one.

He was a little tough on the baby face. I can think when I don't have a microphone. Okay, all right.

The microphone just sets the brain out. Yeah, the next stage is warrior, followed by lover, followed by king, and then followed by sage. And sage usually happens somewhere, you know, after your 50s. And we've talked many times that sages don't often know that they're sages. But interestingly, about the time that the older folks begin to think they're useless, it's actually when perhaps God may use them the most. And so you have a clip to set that whole thing up, right Harold?

Yeah, this is the one in the bar scene, in the secondhand lines, where Hub gets perturbed by a bunch of young punks coming in wanting to steal his barbecue. And he gets asked, you know, who do you think you are? And he gives a description. And to me, one of the reasons that I particularly liked this one for this topic is because earlier, just prior to this, he had complained about being useless. And that's one of the fallacies that young people have for us older folks, is that we're supposed to be useless.

All we're looking forward to is a rocking chair on the porch. The ultimate soft humor, too. And for most of us, that's not the case. There are people that that is the case. But for a lot of people, they really resent losing their job when they're still capable of doing it. I was one of those people. But my sweetheart kept telling me that I didn't need that job, that God had different things for me to do. So while I'm not generating any computer programs in the last 16 years, I have been involved in doing PowerPoint at church and some other things. So I wasn't totally losing the skills that allowed me to earn a living as a computer programmer for 40-plus years.

Not to mention a radio star, Facebook fish, whatever, all that, streamer, all that. So Harold, here you go. Hey, old man.

How's that barbecue? Give me some. We're busy before we get lost, all right? What did you say? Here's a perfect example of what I've been talking about.

He's been given everything but discipline. And now his idea of courage and manhood is to get together with a bunch of punk friends and ride around irritating folks too good-natured to put a stop to it. Hey, who do you think you are, huh?

Just dumb kids, Hubbs. Don't kill them, all right? I'm Hud McCann. I fought in two world wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks.

I've seen the headwaters of the Nile and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I've won or lost a dozen fortunes, killed many men, and loved only one woman with a passion a flea like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am. Can I go home, boy? Get out your knife. Now, boys, you're fixing to let those teenage hormones get you into a world of trouble. My guard, did I ask you to butt in?

Hubbs, you've just come out of the hospital. Well, hey, there's only four of them. Well, look, you fight this one first, and then I'll let you fight the other three after, okay? Yeah, watch this kid. Now, you, you better pick that knife up, because, son, you're going to need all the help you can get. Come on, Frankie. Get him, Frankie. Get him, Frankie. Get him, Frankie. Shit.

Only fit in the book. Okay. You're holding it wrong, son, not like this. You always do it like this. Smooth, all right?

Try it again. If you've never seen that movie, it's a terrific movie, and I would urge everyone to take a look at it. They were two old guys and spent most of their time sitting on the front porch with shotguns so they could run off salesmen that came by. And then a nephew named Walter came into their world, and all of a sudden, they were no longer useless. But you heard Hub talking about all those things he had done in the past, so it was easy to see why he would have felt useless.

And then with Walter on the scene, that changed. And I think there are an awful lot of things that people get wrong about the aging process. Yes, our bodies change. You know, there were things that I could do years ago that I can't even begin to try now. But there's also things I know now that I didn't know then.

And so growing in some areas offsets losing things in other areas. Physical changes are tough. A lot of people think that old folks have no interest in romance. Well, I'm here to tell you that that's not true for every old oldster.

It's not true in my case. Like Hub, I've loved one woman with a passion. A flea like me couldn't understand that.

So, yeah, I mean, there are a lot of things that people think old folks have no interest in, and that's not true. Yeah, go ahead, Jim. I was just going to say, I asked for this clip, too, and it's probably one of my favorites that we ever do. Because it does show you a man who's lived quite a life, but he's still somebody to look up to. But when you said that you had loved only one woman, I deferred to the longer marriage because that was a key part of mine. I've had, how do you say it, crushes if I was 12 years old, but I'm not anymore.

But there have been other women that have interested me, but I've really only loved one in my life, and that's such a gift. Yeah, I think that that was something that I never, when I was in my 30s and 40s, I just thought, man, that's got to be hard after 50, 60 years. But actually, you find that it really does get better and better and better. And being around Harold and Jan, and I'm around them quite often, you know, Harold's wife's name is Jan, you'll see that that passion is very much still there, sometimes comes out a little bit flared. But nonetheless, it's a beautiful thing to behold. And I would say, you know, having the ability to stay married for nearly 60 years really brings out something that I don't know where else you would, you know, get that kind of a relationship that hopefully, you know, mirrors to an extent, you know, Christ and his bride.

And I hope to enjoy something even better. And I know Harold knows, too, as far as that's concerned. But Harold, it certainly is an inspiration, right, for a lot of folks to see you guys. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we put a lot of people off because we're always kissing in public.

And, you know, PDA is... Nobody knows what that is anymore, Harold. Right. So, you're thinking, man, you need a boot camp. Well, we got one coming up November, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Go to Mass In A Journey, radio.org. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. The first one, I had no clue what I was walking into. And then realizing that other people were in the same boat and, you know, how open everybody was to share their struggle, it was a great group and a lot of contacting was able to be done. It is a tight bond of men, everybody's the same. And each and every time that I've come to boot camp, I've learned something different. And not one man that's ever been there neglects not to take time out to talk or to share. It's serious business. And you need to come one time to break bread with the men and fellowship, feel the atmosphere, hear the people pray, get down to earth about what's going on in life and get real.

Register today at masculinejourney.org. Oh man, take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you. I need someone to love me the whole day through.

I want a look in my eyes and you can tell that's true. Oh man, look at my life, I'm a lot like you. Yeah, that's Neil Simon, if I'm not mistaken. You're mistaken. Am I? Yeah.

Who was it? You got the Neil part, right? It wasn't Neil Simon. Young. Neil Young, oh, Collie, you're right.

It is. He's young at that point and he's looking at old men. He's actually not quite as old, but in the same neighborhood. I do find it fascinating with the exception of Rodney, most of the people that are left tonight in the masculine Trinity are the older of crowd, right? Because all the young guys, including Sam, bailed on us.

And it's so. Well, yeah, Sam's older than I am. He's older than most of us, but he's younger than most of us sitting here. There's really only one young guy in the whole group. Yeah.

Yeah. However you depend on how you define young. Anyway, today's show, if you're wondering, is about the misconceptions of aging, right?

And how, I suppose, the world looks at it versus the way the Bible looks at it versus the way that God can use people of age and their experiences. And certainly their relationship experiences. Because one of the most difficult things to navigate throughout your life, I think you're going to find, is relationship. And because obviously you have an enemy that's going to do everything you possibly do that can get between you and your relationship with God and he's been at it all along. And when he can't get that too well, then he'll go after the relationship you have with everybody else, starting with your family and going down from there.

It does, I mean, unfortunately, that's just what it is. And so that one of the advantages you have about hanging around some older people that are mature in Christ is they've navigated on more than one and found the priorities to be different what most of the world thinks they are. And so it's pretty cool that we have this show tonight. And so moving right along to the second oldest man in the group, because he beats me by about 13 months. He was born in 1954. And I was born in 55 just saying I'm younger than him. But that's all right. I was aware.

We've done that comparison before. But one of the things that happens when you get older is you forget everything. So you can enjoy the same thing multiple times.

That's true. For the first time. What is that? My clip is also from Secondhand Lions, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. And this is Hub with Walter by the Lakeside. And this is second or third time that the young man Walter has gone out and woken up his sleepwalking uncle. And he's often fighting, re-fighting battles from his past. So he learned to wake him up and jump away real quick before he got stabbed with the invisible sword. But in this case, he's woken him up. And Hub sees that he's cold. And so he's immediately worried about Walter. And he has a speech that he gives young men. And I'm pretty sure the guys that got beat up in the earlier version heard that and more.

But this is a great little talk about what's important to Walter, who's had a really rough life. You cold, son? You better hear. You better go inside.

Boy. Those stories about Africa, about you, they're true, aren't they? Doesn't matter.

It does, too. Around my mom, all I hear is lies. I don't know what to believe in. Damn, if you want to believe in something, believe in it. Just because something isn't true, there's no reason you can't believe in it. The long speech I give to young men sounds like you need to hear a piece of it.

It's a piece. Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor, courage, and virtue mean everything. That power and money, money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil.

I want you to remember this, that love, true love never dies. Remember that, boy? Remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, you see.

Man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in. Got that? That was a good speech. Think so? Thanks.

This topic came out of a statement I did online that Sam picked up on. And it was during the last several weeks when you asked earlier, what's it going to feel like when I'm 80 or 90? Well, I'm about to finish 70, but I've felt much older than that because I've had double pneumonia and borderline anemia and a few other things going on.

Now, wait a minute. If you were born in 1954, this being 2024, you were born in December of 1954. That would indicate that you're currently 69. Let me explain math to you. When you are one year old, you are starting your second year. I've been wondering what math was my whole life ever since I was one years old when I was really two.

That's close. Now, I put it that way mainly because I used to like to pick on like, oh, I'm 39 this year. Next year, I'll be 40. I said, no, dear, you're working on your 40th year already so you don't have to worry about hitting 40. And I've been doing that for a long time, but it is certainly more accurate when you're only a couple of months away.

All that leading me to forgetting where I was going. You're going to talk about what you thought it was going to be like to be 70 when you were 20. Yeah, and we'll still call it 70 because I like nice round numbers. 80 or 90, sort of like Harold, I figured I might make 80 because all my grandparents did. And that was before I was, well, while my parents were still alive, I made that decision.

So I said, I'll make 80. But anyway, I have felt so old about being able to walk more than 15 or 20 feet without coming close to stumbling or being out of breath and have to sit down and rest. So I was getting a little down about that situation. And that's the nugget that bore this topic today. But I have been reminded through the week and through looking at this topic that I'm still very young.

We all are. I mean, our difference in age between five and 100 is nothing in comparison to eternity, which is what we've got ahead of us. So we're all still babes in the woods. And as Harold pointed out, things start failing.

And that romance isn't one for him is just astonishing. I love that. But there are things that you lose that don't really matter because you are gaining other things. And then there are things that you don't expect to get better. I've always had problems with my eyes. I was wearing the bighorn rims in third grade and never have seen very well. And I got cataract surgery last year. And it's almost like I've got 15-year-old eyes instead of the 60-plus that we've got. So it's an interesting journey.

But if you are young, the only way you're going to get a clue about it is getting with a sage. And we've seen that in our clips. And they don't want to be kings anymore. At least I don't, even though I'm accused of that on occasion. But we do want to be heard and appreciated. And when that happens, it means the world to me and I suspect most sages. But if we're ignored, we kind of get used to that.

And we can take it in stride. And I'm done, believe it or not. I doubt that. I don't know why I just did that. But it's interesting. Speak to this. When I was researching the topic and looking at things, it's amazing how many people associated old with grumpy.

You basically go one of two ways. And grumpy is definitely one of them. There's even a word for it, curmudgeon, since you guys like me to teach you new words. And math. If you have God, you can become more and more gracious, more loving.

And if you don't, odds are you're going to be having regrets for all you missed in your life and hating all that's going on with your body. So what would you speak to that, Harold, since you are 83? And I don't know anybody that would describe Harold as grumpy. I used to be, very much so. The Lord and the Holy Spirit have helped me greatly. I had road rage before they knew what to call it. And I used to be angry all the time. I didn't think it stemmed from the fact that my father had a problem with alcohol. And I had great resentment of that situation.

But you can grow out of those kind of things. And I'm a much happier person today than I was just a few years ago. I mentioned earlier, I really resented when they took my job away, because I loved computer programming. They were paying me to have fun. It was not a job. It was not work. It was something that I loved doing.

Speaking about a, I don't know what you want to call it. But anyway, speaking of having fun, you need to come register for a boot camp coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving in November. Go to masterandjourneyradio.org. Tune in for the after hours, where we get to hear where the young people think, not the old curmudgeons that were on after hours. We'll hear from more about this age stage and misconceptions. This is the Truth Network.