Praise you, Lord, for this, the first real day of my retirement from Christar. This is primarily a financial change, as I plan to keep on doing all the things I did before (teaching, counseling, writing, and traveling to speak as opportunities come), I just won’t get paid for them!

So this will be a financial adventure, seeing how the Lord provides beyond social security. We are waiting for Him to provide renters for the storage spaces in the barns. They seem to be slow in materializing, but one thing we know for sure, the Lord is our Shepherd and therefore we will not want.

A second way that retirement will change me is in attitude. I feel free now to do spontaneous things, like going out to breakfast with the guys after men’s prayer meeting on Friday mornings instead of getting back to work. I don’t want to become less disciplined in how I use the time left, but want to be less focused on work and more on people.

This retirement coincides with my turning 70 this year. In the past I’ve found that decadel milestones often bring changes in focus and responsibilities. So I expect this to be a bigger one than previous “big O” years.

Hebrews 12:1-17 is my map. It certainly is a pleasure to walk with Jesus into the future, to know that He has the course laid out for us and calls us to join Him in the adventure of the rest of our lives. I do want to lay aside every weight and sin that can so easily entangle, and run with patience the race He has set out before me.

It will require patience, for as we move into the future, I’m going to be losing things: strength, endurance, hearing and other physical abilities. Truly old age is the process of losing things, but maturity is letting them go and using these losses to focus on what God has for us. I suspect that worship and intercessory prayer will become the primary focus, with discipleship/counseling being the second.

Whatever it is, I can take my cue from Jesus, fixing my eyes on Him who “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Truly, to know Him is to have hope, to have peace and joy as we trust in Him, and move into the future with His presence, provision and protection. I look forward to living this on a new level! Praise be to Him!