Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
I wasn't thinking
about retiring until one of my two favorite diggers who will take care of my
"arrangements" when the role is called up yonder - Bill and Ric
already have the music disk - said last Sunday afternoon while eating
burgers in Janesville, Wisconsin half-way through a trot with our chrome
ponies, "You know, brother, people will be making all of the decisions for
us in about 10 years."
Ouch.
Order those Depends!
It was almost as
bad as PackMan interrupting me on Main Street in Deadwood as I mocked a
trike parade in 2010, "Don't look now but that's our future!"
Ouch.
Actually, while
this will come as a disappointment to those who hate me in a Christian kinda way who
would salivate over news that Grandpa Jacob's cancer has passed on to
me or somebody shot me for
Allah's sake because I keep siding with members, presbyters, and
anybody else who still loves Jesus by the book, I ain't goin' nowhere now or
ever but the corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois to gospel unless Grandpa Jacob's
cancer has passed on to me, somebody shoots me for Allah's sake, or the minority that thinks
I'm no longer hip enough to be moderator, undershepherd,
and head of staff becomes the majority.
Borrowing a line
from Gump, "And that's all I gotta say about that."
@#$%
Parenthetically,
as an abridgement of Numbers 6, I'm not trimming/cutting another hair from my
grays until every pew in the sanctuary has occupants in the second service.
Call Duck Dynasty
for a cameo!
If the chapel can
be increasingly packed at 7:30 a.m. for worship...
Yep, I've still
got enough vinegar and that other stuff to last me for another two decades at
least.
@#$%
Really, why would
I retire?
Sit in McD's all
day with the other gossipers/geezers?
Stand in line for
flu shots at Walgreen's?
Change diapers
for grandkids?
Borrowing a line
from Arthur's butler, "I live
for it!"
O.K., I can think
of a few things that I'd like to do and few things that I'd like to give up
right now.
Buuuuuuut aside from
riding around the nation's perimeter for two months on Return2 with a
retirement gift that I forfeited in WSNC and being liberated from compulsory
clergy meetings, really, why would I retire?
How does anyone
retire from gospeling, Matthew
25 ministries, and other kerygmatic
stuff?
Besides, ever
since my denomination joined you
know who in messing up medical care...
@#$%
Sooooooo I'm gonna hang in
until I'm hung up by someone about something.
Moretheless, the Lord
keeps filling me with new wine and I'm increasingly intoxicated in/through/for
Him.
I've never heard
Him say, "Behold, I make all things old."
He never talked
about becoming rigidly inflexible; to the contrary, He talked about stretching
and making room for His new and improved ways of living.
The apostle
echoed Him in saying we can be newed
creations rather than reclining geezers.
@#$%
Maybe it's my
dad.
He's in his upper
80s and still practices or plays golf almost every day, sings in the choir,
banters and moans about politics with an acuity that dwarfs me, drives on 80
like he's at Darlington, and buys new sticks more often than I trim/cut my
grays that I ain't trimmin' or cuttin' again until...
In fact, my mom
was bantering and moaning to me about a new driver and irons that he just
bought the other day.
I said,
"Well, just let me know when he stops buying 'em; then I'll clear up my
calendar, come to make his arrangements,
and preside at his..."
"Ooooooookkkkkkkay, Bobby, I get your point!"
Excellent!
@#$%
I'm not demeaning
those who retire for all of the right reasons; especially those who've been
captive to jobs for purely financial considerations.
Buuuuuuut if you're doing
something that God really wants you to do and you really like what you're doing
for Him, what are you going to do when you retire?
Maybe it's
Grandpa Jacob.
He retired from a
job that he really liked, immediately got cancer, and died.
Coming from a
denomination known for its connections, I think there was a...
Retire?
Renew?
Rebirth?
Think and pray
about it before...
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
9 comments:
I think I would like to keep you around as long as possible. Your the only Pastor I know that talks about Jesus.
I got a feeling your beard will get caught in your spokes on your pony before we fill second service. Just my thought for the day. I always tell people enjoy your parents through the lonely and hard times they will have. We miss then dearly when they are gone. God Bless Pastor
Good words about retirement
I've been retired for years it's just that the congregation hasn't noticed yet
I benefit from low expectations
relish the season
Good one, mon ami!
Actually, I retired from professional ministry in October 2011 after spending a week with Eugene Peterson. For the first time, I read the Bible apart from academic, ecclesiastic, and denominationally idolatrous filters.
What?
Do you really think they think you are hip NOW!
Bob,
Exactly - how can anyone retire from the Gospel!!
I retired after 23 years in the Air Force. Retired from computer programming after 12 years. Retired from my computer repair business after 6 years. And retired from being a pastor's spouse to take a job as another pastor's admin assistant.
I'm so retired, I'm tired all the time!!
Trust me Rev Bob, retirement ain't what its cracked up to be!!
Walton - Thanks, brother, need this!
Reformed Catholic - Help me/you, Jesus!
Beautiful, even if I'm two weeks late catching up on emails.
Without diminishing all you said about having had it with the bs, but remaining faithfully to help others cut through it...
1. Having gone through bs for a lifetime, those who get to spend eternity with Jesus appreciate the sweetness of being with Him, and tunderstand how He bore the ultimate load of crap on the cross for our sakes, all the more.
2. In God's great plan somehow the most beautiful flowers always grow out of a layer of bs. Yep, ALS is bs, as is CF, and AIDS, and, well, every malady we've brought down upon ourselves. But you've been cultivating beauty in your times with Jim, as the you have helped him get through it, ultimately to get past it and spend eternity in God's garden paradise.
Post a Comment