My Bucket List

Surely you've seen the previews by now.

The new movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Where they're both terminally ill. Where they decide to pair up and complete a "bucket list"--the list of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket." Retrophisch and Mrs. Phisch, along with myself and the smokin' hot shutterbug trophy wife decided to take it in after dinner together last night.

It was a nice ride of a movie and sparked some conversation over dessert about various spots on earth we'd like to see or maybe where we'd want our ashes scattered. The table was pretty sure that mine should be scattered between my recliner and hammock and Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium.

And, sure, I know this movie will likely spur a thousand blog entries about "bucket lists."

And, sure, some of those entries will involve stuff about swimming with dolphins and scaling Everest and biking down a volcano in Hawaii and photo safaris and stuff like that. The movie's plot had Jack Nicholson as a billionaire so their "bucket list" could be pretty exotic.

And sure, my "bucket list" includes some travel, too. I'd like to do the Holy Land in a significant way. See where Jesus walked and preached and died and rose again and where David and Goliath barked at each other and where he hid from Saul. I'd really like to take a tour of the places Paul preached and visited like Athens and Rome and Corinth and all those places. But, by and large, I'm not much for travel just to see stuff. And I'm certainly not much for paying to travel just to see stuff. It's fair to say the Holy Land and Apostle Paul junkets are really only post-scripts to my bucket list.

But, frankly, you know what my "bucket list" consists of? Before I "kick the bucket," I'd like to...

...do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with my God. That Micah 6:8 part of my "bucket list" I already have tatooed on my left arm. But really, for me, that's true. I can't make much sense of this existence or live meaningfully and deeply outside of that reality. And, Paul was right, you know. If the dead aren't raised, let's just eat and drink for tomorrow we die. If the dead aren't raised, then we are most to be pitied. I really do want this on my list.

...I want to love my wife like Christ loved the church. I want to put her situations where her gifts and talents are being used for His glory. I want to encourage her walk with Him and allow Him to shape and mold her in His fashion. I want to rejoice in the wife of my youth and all that other Song of Solomon stuff.

...I want to avoid provoking my children to anger. I want to provide every opportunity for them to "go in the way they should go" even when my own presuppositions for what that looks like get smashed in the process. I want to encourage them to be strong women who do the Micah 6:8 thing. I want the girls God entrusted me with to be the kind of girls that, when I walk down an aisle and hand them over to some gorilla God provides (presuming He'll be doing that--if that isn't what they choose to do, so be it), that gorilla will be thankful that I took my stewardship of those young ladies very seriously.

...and, in light of that Micah 6:8 thing, I want to be using my gifts and talents to help the Body of Christ mature. I want to be part of a community of folks that are somewhere in the process of walking humbly with God. Warts and all. My warts and their warts. I want to love them and have that reality reciprocated.

And, you know what?

That's really my "bucket list."

I guess I'm more like Morgan Freeman's character in that I'm okay with not having it specific. I mean, I'm not too particular about where I'm doing those things or what I see along the journey. You can have your "kiss the prettiest woman in the world" items if you want (and, would it be sappy if I really believed I've done that? And, would it be even more sappy if I believed that I've covered Kid1, Kid2, Partner-In-Crime Neice1 and Higher-Order-Progeny Neice2?). And, yes, people will say I'm "no fun" because of that reality--much the same way that people tell me I'm no fun because I don't like to dance and find card-playing boring--but I really believe that if...

If I never see Everest up close and personal...
If I never see Old Faithful or climb down the Grand Canyon...
If I never go on safari...
If I never get to Athens or Engedi or Jerusalem...
If I never spit off a pyramid...
If I never drive in a stock car at 200 m.p.h....
If I never see a Super Bowl or prize fight...
If I never see U2 live or Led Zeppelin reunite and watch the show...

...I'm not sure it'll really bother me much.

I think my life will be complete and fulfilled if I do the Micah 6:8 thing.