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Things to Do Before I Die

by Bob Hostetler

 

When I was nineteen, I made my first list of goals.

 

I no longer have that list, but I remember that I set one-year, two-year, three-year, and lifetime goals. I also remember one of the items on that list: the lifetime goal of writing a book, sometime before I die.

 

Five years later I had the courage to make writing a book a five-year goal (I’d since added that category), and made publishing a book one of my lifetime goals.

 

Five years after that, I had accomplished the first goal, and shortly thereafter, accomplished the second goal, with the release of Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door.   

 

For thirty years now, such goal-setting has been an annual exercise for me. I now set one-year, two-year, five-year, and lifetime goals (I also divide my one-year goals into five categories: professional, physical, spiritual, missional, and personal).

 

So I’ve had some time to think about the things I would like to do before I die. Some of the following have been on my list for years; others are brand new. Some are, admittedly, pipe dreams (especially considering my advanced age and the little progress I’ve made heretofore in select areas). And I’ve already realized many of my lifetime goals (I’m married to the loveliest woman in the world; I’ve raised a son and a daughter; my children are grown and have become amazingly accomplished, balanced, and capable people; I’ve become a grandfather; I’ve published 25 books; I’ve traveled repeatedly to Israel; I’ve helped to plant a wonderful church, etc.). But still, one way or another, before I die, I would really like to…   

 

  1. Earn a master’s degree and doctorate
  2. Pay off my mortgage and own my home outright
  3. Participate in an archaeological dig
  4. Act in one of Shakespeare’s plays
  5. Speak Spanish fluently
  6. Visit all 50 U.S. states (left to go: Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Vermont)
  7. Become conversant in Hebrew
  8. Live (for at least a year) in Jerusalem
  9. See the Northern Lights
  10. Live in a cabin in the woods
  11. Visit the Alsace (where my ancestors immigrated from)
  12. See my church host 2,000 worshipers every weekend
  13. Hike the Appalachian Trail, beginning to end
  14. See the Louvre
  15. Own and run a bookstore
  16. Visit Rome
  17. Become a capable ballroom dancer
  18. See Scotland and Ireland
  19. Sing Handel’s Messiah with an orchestra and choir
  20. Leave my wife and children $1 million

 

I told you some of them were pipe dreams. But none are impossible. However, each would be a challenge by itself; together, they’re pretty doggone overwhelming. So I’d better stop talking about them, and get going.

 

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