My mom said to  me, “I’m old. But I’m not old-old.” She was in her 80’s at the time. That always struck me as an interesting viewpoint. Personally, I can’t really consider myself middle-aged any more. But I certainly don’t consider myself “old-old”.

I heard someone say, “You’re as old as your last revolution.” A similar thought is what was said about some people, that they “died at 30, were buried at 60.” They quit at 30 but didn’t die till 60.

However, when you have the Lord, when you have a vision, a purpose and a desire to keep alive so that you can continue to do something meaningful with you your life, somehow the Lord often comes through, sustains you and gives you a continuation of meaningful life beyond what you might otherwise have had if you’d lost the vision, lost a purpose or a zest for living and a desire for continuing to live for the Lord and others.

Way back in the 1970’s, there was some current teenage Asian guru who was quoted as saying, “We’re all old; we can die tomorrow.” Well, he was right about that. I’ve had several very dear friends pass on to their reward in recent times and it’s an emotion without name to ponder those dear friends who so recently were here and are now no longer with us.

Still, we are here. Still, there is a reason to stay alive, if nothing else to help others, to alleviate in whatever way we can the suffering that’s the plight of so many and to share the love of God with the world. I’ve written a number of articles somewhat on this subject in the past. I wrote about Solomon, king of Israel, who evidently had fallen away from God’s highest and best but he still had the vision to continue on in his calling and ministry. I wrote about that in “Still”.

Or there was Ruth in the Bible, returning to her own land in her old age, evidently in utter defeat and failure. But unknown to her, the most significant portion of her life was still ahead. I wrote about that in “So You Had To Go Home”.

One of the most famous series of movies ever had the hero, Obi Wan Kenobi, a washed up elderly Jedi living off in his cave, apparently beyond his time and his portion in life. But the best was yet to come. I wrote about that in “Obi wan Kenobi in his cave”.

They say, “Youth is wasted on the wrong people”, ha! Well, I don’t know. If you can find a place in time where you have the power and energy of youth but the wisdom, focus and balance of full adulthood, you’ve then come to a good place.

To be honest, my present early 70’s are ok. I have friends who’ve gone on to be with the Lord. But He’s allowed me to still be here for now. And He’s given me a vision and a sense of purpose that compels me to do what I can each day to put in a full day’s work for Him and others.

I filled out some forms recently and I was asked “Are you retired?” Ha! I almost laughed. In one way, maybe technically I’m retired. But in another way, I am utterly not retired. The Bible says, “There is no discharge in this war.” (Ecclesiastes 8:8) For those serving the Lord, on the wall of His will, keeping the faith and the vision, I don’t think there’s much in the way of retirement. Why should we? The need is still there, people are dying in despair and without God. How can we do less than continue to do our best for Him?

Of course there are those who are bed-ridden and in their final months, weeks and days. But there’s a wonderful thing about the life of faith and service for the Lord: as far as I can see, it’s not something you retire from, like some secular, worldly job.

It’s like if you suddenly got a call from your uncle or grandfather. You were shocked to hear that he was at 21,000 feet on a climb of Mount Everest. “Grandpa! Grandpa! Are you ok?!”, you said.

You had a good connection and could hear him clearly, “Yes, I’m fine. Things are good.”

So you said, “Grandpa, what’s it like?!”

He replied, “It’s so clear, a little cold but the air is amazing and I can see so far. We’ve established a camp and plan to push for the summit in the next days. It’s exhilarating.”

Maybe that’s not a perfect example but possibly that’s how it can and should be. Life is like a mountain climb and as we get closer to the summit, the view is better, the air is purer and many things fade into lesser meaning. I may not be that far along yet. But I’m just trying to tell you that it’s not so bad and there’s still an alive-ness that keeps kicking and the Lord really does keep things going.