I Do Not Want What I Do Not Have

Everywhere I go on this campus I am confronted with scenes of myself as a young man. I do not always like what I see here. The phrase that keeps coming back to me is wasted opportunities. I was handed this collegiate experience, and -- rather than make the most of it -- I furthered my own self-destructive tendencies.

Man, I wish someone had been courageous enough to confront me with stuff way back then. I actually caught myself singing that Rod Stewart song "I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger."

And yet...I have a fantastic wife. Thank you, Ross Thompson, for reminding me of that last night. And my kids...I don't have words to describe the way I feel about them. And the work that God has provided for me in this season of my life is rich and meaningful.

Regrets, I have a few -- and they are not too few to mention. But God has redeemed the wasted years -- the years the locusts of my own immature appetites have eaten. And I can stand on this hill all these years later and say -- with a mostly straight face -- I do not want what I do not have.

...except a million dollars.

...and a mercedes.

...and a pony.