Reluctant Retiree

Each morning when I walk, I look up to the skies. I love to gaze upon the moon and stars. This morning was the first time in weeks that the sky was clear and I could see the multitude of stars. I cannot count them all and I certainly do not know the names of most. That does not diminish the enjoyment of the beautiful panorama.

Isn’t it strange that with all that man knows and can do that we cannot create a single star and put it into place in the sky. We cannot travel the distance to a star. We certainly can’t recall the names of each star.

On the other hand, God created the billions upon billions of stars. He set each one in its place. And God has named each one. Psalms 147:4 says, “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.”

Even better is the fact that He knows my name and your name. He knows the name of each of the billions of people on earth now. That’s because He created and fashioned each of us for a specific purpose. He is the ultimate designer. He knows you and I intimately and even knows the number of hairs on our heads. He loves us with an abundant, steadfast and eternal love.

Think about all that the next time you look up at the sky and see the stars.

It’s a windy day today, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour. When I was out walking, going in one direction was a struggle, while going the other way was easy. Going against the wind was cold and almost discouraging.

We all have people in our lives who slow us down and discouraged us. They drain our energy and darken our mood. They keep us held back rather than moving forward.

Then we also have people in our lives that lift us up with words of encouragement. They lighten our loads and help us to swiftly move forward, often beyond where we expected to go. Their words stimulate us to do good things.

Obviously, we should strive to be encouragers ourselves. We should seek to lighten the burdens that others carry and help them move forward. The people who climb Mt. Everest are indebted to a group of people called Sherpas. Sherpas live in the Himalayan mountains and have adapted to those heights. They are the ones who carry the heavy loads and prepare the trails. Without the Sherpas most climbers would never make it to the summit. They need the encouragement and support of this hearty group.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Since we all need encouragement and things go better for all with encouragement, let’s each one try to encourage someone every day.

It snowed a couple days ago. So everywhere I walked yesterday, I crunched through the snow. Then the sun melted some of the snow and the overnight cold created patches of ice. So I had to be careful where I stepped this morning. A spot could look like a safe place to step, but ice could have been hiding beneath the thin layer of snow.

Life can be like that. We can be walking on what we think is secure ground when out of the blue we are in dangerous territory. All of a sudden we become seriously ill or injured. Perhaps we are laid off due to poor economic conditions for our business. Our steps can become dangerous due to unexpected family or interpersonal issues. Or maybe we have taken some risks that didn’t pan out. Worse yet, perhaps we have made some poor moral decisions.

Life, for everybody, will certainly bring some problems. God doesn’t promise us a life free of troubles. He does promise to take us through these problems by his grace on the other side. He does command us to take wise steps through faith. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” How do we walk wisely? By understanding what God’s will is for us and following His steps.

Overnight it snowed about three inches. So it was beautiful for my morning walk. I circled the same path four times. On the third or fourth path I noticed the tracks in the snow that I was making.

The tracks got me thinking about the tracks, or legacies, that our lives leave for others. Are the legacies that I leave behind worthy of being followed? My desire is to leave legacies that my children and grandchildren will want to follow and should follow.

That will require that I live a life of generosity, service, and righteousness. The only way that I can do that is to be filled with the love and power of God. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

What legacy will you leave behind? Please choose to follow Jesus and leave a legacy of love. It is not too late.

I’ve discovered that my mental acuity is deficient. If someone is talking to me and uses too many words, I simply cannot follow them. Also, if the person speaking has too many branches of thought in their discourse, I will not be able to stay with them, as I am still trying to understand a branch talked about several minutes before. If I can’t stay with you, my mind will stray and I get even further behind and lost.

With the advent of social media, most people were excited. It was thought that we could all stay better connected and relationships would prosper. The evidence suggests that that is not true for most people. It seems that people still desire and need the face to face interaction. The evidence also confirms that most speech on social media is superficial and, therefore, does not sustain relationships.

Another problem that has developed with social media is the tendency to speak too much. Time and again, we have seen how celebrities, politicians, athletes, and others have gotten into trouble by sharing too much on social media. Even what they said years ago has come back to haunt them today.

While I don’t want to encourage the cancel culture, it has been proven that we can get ourselves into trouble when we use too many words. Proverbs 10:19 says. “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable. But he who restrains his lips is wise.” Perhaps we should not give our voice to every thought that comes into our heads. James 1:19 gives us a better way when it says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Let’s try to listen more rather than quickly speaking. We will likely be angry less and be regarded as a friend more.

Outside our apartment window is a pond. For years now the water level in the pond has been going down. It has also become mostly filled with leaves and debris. It is not the pretty site that it was when we moved in. Now only the ducks and geese can appreciate the water.

Several years ago we lived in Nepal. Nepali people appreciated water more than most. You see, they had to work to get their water. Many had to bring clay pots to a well to be filled to supply basic household needs like cooking and cleaning. Most people bathed at the well rather than carry pots home for bathing. Some homes, like ours, received water through city pipes. But even that was not like here. The pipes only carried water for an hour and a half per day. You had to be ready to turn on your pump when this water was available. The pump sent water to a storage tank on the roof, so that it could drop down into the house when you needed it and opened a faucet.

Yes, we have it good here in America. We can easily get water anytime we want by a simple turn on the faucet. However, I don’t think that we appreciate water as much as people in other parts of the world.

Jesus spoke of a different type of water, living water. This water nourishes the soul and brings life eternal. It continually meets the deepest needs of the one who possesses it. It is satisfying beyond our wildest imagination. John 4:13-14 says, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become a well of water springing up to eternal life.'” Ask Jesus and He will give you this living water that satisfies your needs and gives eternal life.

When I was a teenager, a song with the title above was popular. It said, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for one, but for everyone.” A simple song with a message that rings true.

Unfortunately, the song spoke of a pretty shallow type of love. This kind of love really only says “I love you”, without the actions to demonstrate love. It implies that if we just say kind things everything will be alright.

We all know that is not true. We can say that we love someone and hide the worst kind of thoughts about them. We can say the same words, and mean them, without ever lifting a finger to help them or do a kind act for them.

When Jesus spoke of love, he often referred to a love that is sacrificial, selfless, and overwhelmingly giving. In fact, this is the kind of love that God has for us. Even though we are sinners, the Father gave His only Son so that we could be saved from the penalty for our sins and live eternally with Him. In I John 3:18 we are given the instructions on how to love; “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” We should show the truth of our words with sacrificial and selfless acts of love. Then we reflect the same type of love that God has for us.

How do we determine if a person is strong? Do we simply test how much weight they can lift? Do we put them through a series of American Ninja obstacles? Is a person strong through mental acuity? So we simply evaluate their IQ to determine how strong they are. What about emotional strength? Do we wait until a person suffers terrible tragedies and see how they react to determine their strength?

All of that seems terribly cumbersome. Is measuring a person’s strength in any of these areas appropriate or valid? Who are we even to judge these aspects of another person?

If we, ourselves, desire to be strong, God gives us the perfect answer. Ephesians 3:16 records Paul’s prayer for the church, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” So God will supply the power that He has through His Spirit. That is real power. That is true strength. And all we need to do is pray and surrender to His power.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you do to protect yourself, bad things can and do happen. You can buy all the insurance you want, but they only pay out after you are harmed. You can buy snow tires and equip your car for winter weather, but an ill-prepared driver can slide across the lanes to crash into you. Football players wear all kinds of protection, but the wrong type of collision still injures them.

I had one of those experiences this morning. Today, like most days, I got up early to walk. It was dark, but I was crossing a very lit intersection, at the crosswalk, with the light. I also had a flourescent safety vest on. A large delivery truck came from behind me and turned left into the crosswalk. I saw it only just before it hit me. I was knocked down about ten feet from the impact. Fortunately I was not seriously injured, just bruises and scrapes.

So I was doing everything to protect myself, but trouble still found me. I do, however, believe that I was protected by a greater source of defense. I believe that God was protecting me from greater harm. It is obvious to me that God stopped the truck before it completely ran over me, seriously injuring or even killing me. Psalm 3:3 says, “But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” I do believe that my God is a shield about me, able to protect me from great harm as He did this morning. I will glory in this knowledge and invite you to discover this truth for yourself.

Some people are like thermometers. Thermometers don’t really do anything on their own. They just reflect the environment around them. So when the moods and attitudes of people around them are up, they they also are up or positive. Conversely, when the moods and attitudes are negative, so are those of thermometer people. They make no impact upon the world.

Thermostat people, on the other hand, change the world. They have the character within them that is needed by the world. They are able to make things better and actually help to bring changes to and for people. They don’t wait for the opinions of others, because they have it within themselves to change the world.

Are you more like a thermometer, affected by those around you, or a thermostat, changing the world? To be an effective world changer, we must have something inside of us that the world needs. Something that will actually make the world better, not just different. Psalm 119:98-100 says, “Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.” God’s Word gives us the understanding and wisdom to change the world for the better. Reading, studying, and meditating on His Word prepares us to be effective world changers.