This month I begin my 12th year as the faith and values columnist for The Mercer Island Reporter. How time flies.

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 at Covenant Shores.

Blurring mileposts have brought a timeless truth into focus. Time seems to pass more quickly the older we get. But I’ve come to see that growing older is nothing to fear. The vitality that defines the eighty-somethings and ninety-somethings in my life has reframed my perspective of the aging process.

Take my friend Ted Katsanis. Even though he is ninety, 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 eighty-seven this retired seminary president has just published his fortieth book. His most recent offering bears a most curious title. “Confessions of a Street Walker.”

What I love about “Confessions of a Street Walker” (in addition to the very compelling title) is Dave McKenna’s take on what really matters in life. Resumes, accolades and titles fade when contrasted to first-name friendships. The book chronicles the people Dave has met while walking his dog Molly on the streets of Kirkland.

By his own admission Dave is an old dog who is 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.

Pastor Greg Asimakoupoulos is a longtime columnist for the Mercer Island Reporter.