Life keeps offering lessons as years go by

This month I begin my second year as the faith and values columnist for the Wenatchee World. It also marks 11 years since moving back to the Pacific Northwest.

If it didn't sound so trite, I'd be inclined to comment on the speed at which time flies. My next birthday I will turn 65, and yet it seems like it was just last year I was turning 16 and standing in line to get my driver's license.

In the six decades I've driven along life's highway, I've passed numerous mileposts. College gradation. Marriage. Becoming a dad. Becoming ordained. Buying my first home. Publishing my first book. Burying my father. Walking a daughter down the aisle. Landing my dream job.

Blurring mileposts have brought a timeless truth into focus. Time seems to pass more quickly the older we get. But since living my dream as a retirement community chaplain, I've come to see that growing older is nothing to fear. The vitality that defines the 80-somethings and 90-somethings in my life has reframed my perspective of the aging process.

Take my friend Ted Katsanis. Even though he is 90, he leads a hiking club that finds him and his friends in some of the most scenic vistas of the foothills each Tuesday. And then there's 93-year-old John Lindberg who thinks nothing of a train trip to Glacier National Park on a long weekend. Jon Parkinson lives for his weekly golf game even though he's 86.

But I am most impressed by my friend Dave McKenna. At 87, this retired seminary president has just published his 40th book. For the better part of the past decade this energetic octogenarian has attempted to write a book a year. His most recent offering bears a most curious title. "Confessions of a Street Walker."

I first met Dave in the fall of 1970 when he was president of Seattle Pacific University. I had just matriculated as a freshman and was grateful for a young administrator who had a passion for getting to know the students. As I pursued my graduate education and pastoral vocation, I followed my president's multifaceted career.

It was a career that culminated in being named president of Asbury Seminary in Kentucky and included political appointments, honorary degrees, consultant opportunities and a very prolific pen.

To my delight, my friendship with "Dr. McKenna" (as I called him until fairly recently) was punctuated by random sightings at Lake Chelan. For half a century the McKenna Clan has rendezvoused for an annual family reunion at their favorite vacation spot. Locals who have come to know "the good doctor" will be pleased to know about the most personal of all his books.

What I love about "Confessions of a Street Walker" (in addition to the very compelling title) is Dave's take on what really matters in life. Resumes, accolades and titles fade when contrasted with first-name friendships.

The book chronicles the people Dave has met while walking his dog on the downtown streets of Kirkland. With his computer keyboard as his palate, the author paints poignant word pictures. His encounters with strangers who become friends come alive for the reader.

By his own admission, Dave is an old dog capable of learning new tricks. It took this learned academician decades to understand the value of forgoing labels like Ph.D, institutional president or church pastor. Quite contentedly, my longtime friend is happy to be known simply as Molly's master or just plain Dave.

The insights shared in this great little read reflect big lessons accumulated over a long and productive life. As I walked through the pages of the book with Dave and his little dog, Molly, I vicariously walked the streets of Kirkland and met new friends. I discovered that even though life tends to speed by more quickly as you approach your ultimate destination, what can be learned later in life makes up for how quickly the years pass.

• The Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos is a former Naperville resident who writes regularly about faith and family.