Reluctant Retiree

Every morning I get up early to walk about 8 miles. It takes me about two hours. I really enjoy the quiet and time alone to pray and meditate.

Most of the time I am walking under street lights so I can see clearly and walk safely. Part of my walking path, however, is not lighted at all. Since I walk very early and the days are shorter now, I have to be careful with my steps. I have tripped and fallen a few times, but I am still not smart enough to carry a flashlight to illuminate my steps.

Why do we make such choices? I could carry a flashlight and walk securely, but in my own arrogance I think I will be safe without light. We do the same thing in other areas of life. We make minor and major decisions based upon our own limited understanding without seeking wise counsel. We move ahead on the path we choose without the light that we need. Then we are surprised when we stumble and fall.

God is always offering the light we need to walk through life securely. This light doesn’t remove the dangers, but does offer us a secure way through trouble. Psalm 119:105 says it best. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word gives us the light we need to take the next step.

It is amazing how confidently we speak about the future. We casually promise that we will do something or be somewhere on some future date. I guess that these promises can be good if they truly state our intentions. However we really don’t know whether we can fulfill the promises we make. Any number of circumstances can get in the way of fulfilling our intentions.

Politicians find this to be true quite frequently. During the campaign they make all sorts of promises. If they are elected, they quickly find out that fulfilling these promises, if they ever intended to do so, is much harder than they thought. They may even discover that to fulfill a campaign promise will do more harm than good.

I remember that my father promised to take me to a football game when I was a child. When it came time to go to the game my father showed up drunk. While it was a bad decision, we still went to the game. We nearly missed being the cause of several accidents along the way. That fulfilled promise nearly had disasterous consequences.

We should be careful with our promises. We don’t control the future, so we can’t be sure that the promises can be or should be fulfilled. James 4:13-15 says, “Come now you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'”

Autumn brings a cascade of color. The leaves turn many shades of red, orange, yellow and brown. We have one tree in our area that I call the rainbow tree. It displays various colors in layers from top to bottom.

It’s all very beautiful, especially if you can catch a view of the colors also reflecting off a river or lake. Unfortunately the beauty doesn’t last long enough. Soon the leaves die and fall to the ground. The tree become barren and sad looking.

I don’t want to be like the falling leaves. I want to walk uprightly and straight along the path God has designed for me. Jude verses 24 and 25 say, ” Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” I am trusting God to keep me from falling and bring me with him into his glory.

Today, my wife and I will volunteer at an annual event to appreciate police officers. We count it a privilege to give just a little back to those men and women called to serve and protect us. They will be given a day to play and eat with their families.

I am well aware of the issues in police departments across the country. And I know that some officers have abused their calling in very high profile cases and probably many other cases. I am also aware that police procedures and departments may have to make changes to remove systematic dangers to people and society.

But I still believe that the vast majority of individual officers deserve our appreciation for faithfully carrying out their mission to serve and protect our citizens. All should not be judged by the actions of a few. There is not a demographic in this country that does not have some who tarnish the name of that demographic by their poor and sometimes dangerous activities. We all desire mercy and grace in those situations and should not be automatically condemned by the no-gooders in our demographic.

I am so glad that God does not condemn me for the actions of others, or even my own misdeeds. In fact, because I love his Son, Jesus, and have given my life to him, God does not condemn me at all, but rather forgives me. Romans 8:1 says, ” Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Last night we went to our grandson’s high school football game. The rain made it interesting. However we were prepared with umbrellas and rain gear. Fortunately it wasn’t windy so the umbrellas protected us well.

Where do we look for protection today? We buy insurance to protect investments in property, cars and health. 401Ks, IRAs, and social security are supposed to secure our futures. Alarm systems protect our homes and loved ones.

Although we are heavily invested in protections, all these investments are constantly at risk. A singular event like a world-wide pandemic can easily destroy the viability of companies that support our security and financial systems.

Where can we find protection that we can count on, no matter what happens? God promises to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). The Bible calls Him the rock, strong tower, defense, refuge, shield, strength, and fortress. He is the omnipotent Almighty God. He is able to give us the protection we want and need.

I took our car in for its regular servicing today. In just 45 minutes the car was checked out according to a specified checklist, oil was changed, and the tires were rotated. All this was done under the manufacturer’s complimentary service, so it didn’t even cost me anything.

Wouldn’t it be great if our bodies were like that? We could go in for an annual examination. The doctor would check us per a prescribed checklist, push there, pull here and 45 minutes later we would be as good as new. Unfortunately, that is not what happens, especially at my age. While the exam might only take 45 minutes and they do check my fluids, corrective action involves much more intensive treatment.

Our souls, spirits, minds and hearts also require more intensive treatment. For one thing we should check these things far more regularly than annually. Also, we should ask a higher authority, God, to exam us. He knows how these parts of ourselves should be functioning and he is a true judge of our character. In addition, the corrections he will make will be far more righteous and lasting. The question is whether we want to make these corrections or not.

Hebrews 12:10-11 says, “For they (our fathers) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline seems for the moment not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Small acts of kindness can have a huge impact upon the lives of others. We know this because of the impact upon ourselves that little kindnesses have. Maybe it was the time that you were in a big hurry and someone let you go ahead of them in the grocery register line. Perhaps your hands were full and you dropped something. Someone else saw your difficulty and picked up the dropped item and even helped you carry some of your load. One of my favorite things to do is to simply wave at passing cars while I am walking. Sure some people probably think I am crazy, but most smile and wave back. That makes my day.

Small acts of kindness cost us little, are easy to do, and make a bigger impact upon others than we think. But what about larger acts of kindness that do cost us something. Are we willing to make the sacrifices necessary to meet bigger needs? What if a neighbor needs a ride to a doctor’s appointment, but I want to take a nap? Am I willing to help two friends resolve a dispute? Even these situations are minor compared to many others. But are we willing to help in more significant needs.

Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Jesus gave his life to remove the burden of sin from our lives. The sacrifices we are called to for the sake of others are generally much less than Jesus carried for us. Consider helping someone with their burden today.

I used to watch, with a degree of amazement, my wife’s elderly parents take their medicines. They had set up elaborate systems with partitions and alarms to make sure that they took the proper medicines at the appropriate time. What and when they could eat depended on their medicine schedules. I was confident that I would never get to this point.

I was wrong. I am already there. The only thing that they did but I am not is the use of alarms. The funny thing is that I am relatively healthy. Most of my medicines are used for preventative purposes.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take pills to change other things in our lives besides physical health. How about a pill to make us more attractive? I could use a pill to make me more intelligent and have more common sense. Why isn’t there a pill to make our interpersonal relationships more fulfilling.

Wait a minute! The Bible gives us three pills for better interpersonal relationships. I Corinthians 13:13 says, “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Healthy and godly doses of faith, hope and love are sure to improve our relationships.

As I write this, several significant sports championships are underway. The Stanley Cup Finals are about to declare a champion of the National Hockey League. The finals of the National Basketball Association will begin this week. Major League Baseball will finish their regular season today and start their playoffs on Tuesday.

All of these championships represent years of hard work and focus upon a singular goal. Every soon to be champion should be admired for their efforts and talents. They will receive praise and financial rewards. However, the thrill of victory will only be temporary. Next season a new champion will likely be crowned and their glory will fade. Sure we will remember their victory but its significance will fade. The Washington Nationals won the World Series last year, but failed to make the playoffs this year.

What kind of championship will yield lasting glory? The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:8, “More than that I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing glory of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”

So Paul is saying that the only thing with lasting glory is to know Christ. The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us how to run this race of life. “Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

So we must put off sin and run toward Jesus. Then eternal glory is ours.

When I worked in an office, we seniors would commiserate about the signs of aging. I used to say, you know you are getting old when every time you get up from a chair some new pain hits you”.

Today, the new pain is in my hip. It goes away after a few steps, but it hurts quite a bit in the first few steps. I have confidence that someday I will have no more pain, no more trouble, no more disease, and no more sin.

To experience this you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t miss it. Believe.

I Thessalonians 4:14-17 says, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”