Birthday History

Today is my birthday. This year Feb. 24 falls on a Wednesday. I was also born on a Wednesday at 5:03 p.m. at St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic.
On the day I was born, the “Theme from the Summer Place” by Percy Faith was the number one song in America. Dwight D. Eisenhower was still our president and “Sink the Bismarck!” directed by Lewis Gilbert, was one of the most viewed movies released while “Advise And Consent” by Allen Drury was one of the bestselling books.
There have been 20,450 24-hour periods passed since the day of my birth which adds up to approximately 2,921.4 weeks. I did some research and discovered that 332,000 other babies were also born on the same day and year that I was. If we all got together, that would be some sized cake. But since I have been trying to lose weight these past months, there’d just be more dessert for everybody else.
So what have I done with the some 2,061.4 million heartbeats since the day of my birth? I can honestly answer that I probably would not be very satisfied with my list of personal accomplishments through the years.
As a matter of fact, my internal obsessive drive for perfection has been the main reason for much heartburn and frustration along the way. Never content with what is and always yearning for what could be has kept me in a state of constant movement and daily experimentation.
I was wired to be a dreamer and a visionary and God has blessed me with the ability to trust and obey him quite easily. While others must have all their I’s dotted and T’s crossed before they advance, too many details bore me.
I would rather get out of the starting gate and adjust the load on the road. If faith is the victory that overcomes the world, then I have been graced to get my cues from heaven and wait for the Lord to make it happen here on earth.
I have always believed in God. There was just way too much evidence for his existence for me to ever ignore. I grew up in a very religious family and received my early education by going to Catholic School.
But even as a young child I was very troubled by the dilemma that while I was learning lots about the Lord, I still didn’t know him. I would lie awake at night for hours and wonder what would have happened to me if I had died in the night.
I knew even then that I never felt worthy enough to get to heaven based upon my own merit. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I finally encountered the good news of the gospel. Someone loved me enough to share the truth of the Scriptures with me.
In the New Testament book of Romans, it said that while all of mankind had sinned and fallen way short of the glory of God, because of the amazing grace of our loving Lord, it wasn’t up to what I could do to earn eternal life but it was all dependent upon what Jesus had already done for me.
I totally surrendered my life to the Lord in April 1975 and everything changed. I knew God was calling me into full-time ministry and I was fully devoted to his will and his way in me! It has been quite the adventure that’s for sure and I have never been bored by work.
I began my full-time work as a pastor after graduating from Philadelphia College of Bible in 1982.
I began with Youth For Christ in North Jersey and I specialized in youth ministry from 1982 through coming here to The Lighthouse Church as the senior pastor in 1997. I served full time on staff with churches in Randolph, N.J., Dayton and Stow, Ohio and Omaha, Neb.
I have been given a great gift to have been able to work with so many amazing people over the years. I do know that God gave me the heart of a shepherd. It is kind of funny because my name Rudolph actually means, “Famous Wolf.”
But only the Lord could take a wolf and turn him into a gentle shepherd who loves the sheep beyond measure. One of the signs that I know I’m a shepherd is that as great as it is that so many people come to church each week, I always grieve and am greatly concerned about all those who were not there.
I love the 99 in the fold with all that I am but I will always be out and about looking for the lost lamb that needs to come home. I know when people are missing. And again, it eats away at my soul that everyone is not where they should be.
It is one of the realities of my profession. I can never pronounce my job totally complete until we all cross that finish line and finally get home where we belong with God forever.!
So on the day I was born the first American intercontinental ballistic missile was given its first test. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the Titan missile traveled 5,000 miles and ejected a data capsule before crashing into the South Atlantic.
Final approval was given by Pakistan’s President Ayub Kahn for the construction of a new capital city on the site of the villages of Saidpur and Nurpur. The new city would be called Islamabad.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the prescription use of the tranquilizer chlordiazepoxide, developed by Hoffmann-La Roche and marketed under the tradename Librium.
Argentina called off its search for an “unidentified submerged object” in Golfo Nuevo.
Since Jan. 30, when sonar picked up evidence of a trapped foreign submarine, the Argentine Navy had been searching the gulf. At one point, it appeared that there were two subs below the surface, but after more than three weeks, the Buenos Aires government concluded that if there had been a foreign sub, it had escaped.
Finally, four people were killed and five others injured by a pipeline worker turned sniper. Dan Raymond, who lived near Ohiopyle, Pa. shot two county workers who were spreading cinders, then fired from his home at other vehicles until police killed him nine hours later. Maybe the old days weren’t that great after all as this sounds like something that could have happened today.
If I still have a pulse, then God still has a purpose for me. I don’t know what big events may be the top stories of this day or the big news that will end up becoming the daunting headlines of 2016 but this much I do know, I am very grateful and I feel so blessed to still be alive and I if I am here, then I must make a difference.
I’ll press on and run this race with every ounce of gusto I can muster but when the moment comes that the Lord calls me home, he won’t have to summon me more than once.
I’m going to Heaven, but until I do, I’m living on earth and I pray we can jam as many memories into these remaining hours as possible.
Thank you all for sharing your time with me. These are moments I never take for granted and you are all readers that I truly appreciate. Now, please pass me a piece of the birthday pie and let’s light some candles to brighten up Cape May County together.