“When I’m Sixty Four”

What if we finish our “race” only to discover that we still have fuel in our tank and tread on our tires?

“Do you hear that rumble in the distance? That is the Baby Boomers—they are getting ready to retire. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turn 65. Millions upon millions of them are rushing toward retirement age and they have been promised that the rest of us are going to take care of them. Only there is a huge problem. We don’t have the money…the day of reckoning that so many have talked about for so many years is here.” (from: The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw)

• Beginning January 1st, 2011 every single day more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65…a phenomenon that will recur every single day for the next 19 years.
• Retirement communities and complexes are sprouting up in virtually every neighborhood.
• Leisure-life promises fill magazine ads and sidebar commercials on numerous websites.

The finish line for so many of us who are American born and American reared has been birthday number 65. It was aimed for, it was dreamed of, it was promised. And the painful reality that the “finish line” is being moved, has created some pretty significant disappointment and frustration for many of our generation.

• According to a recent survey, 24% of U.S. workers admit that they have postponed their planned retirement age at least once during the past year.
• An AARP survey finds that “40% of Baby Boomers plan to work ‘until they drop’.”

Now, if you immerse yourself in press releases and news commentaries and other culture shapers, you may quickly adopt an attitude of entitlement or of meritorious reward. “I’ve done my time. I’ve made my contribution. I’ve earned my rest!” And that spirit tends to silence the voice of the Spirit as He calls out to us from the Word.

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith…” Hebrews 12:1,2

Or, “Not that I have already obtained it…but one thing I do, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are mature, have this attitude…” Philippians 3:14,15

What if we finish our “race” only to discover that we still have fuel in our tank and tread on our tires?

Is it possible that the “American Dream” has blurred the finish line? That we have ignored the glorious call of God to run to win, and to press on rather than slack off, and to give of ourselves as long as there remains something of ourselves to give? Where are the Caleb’s of our day who refuse to “finish” their race and just kick it back? “Now behold, the Lord has let me live these forty-five years…and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me…Now then, give me this hill country…with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken!” Joshua 14:10-12

As Paul encourages Titus in the finishing work of the churches on Crete, he points him to an un-mined source of Christian service impact. Older men and older women! One of the great, untapped resources of the Baby Boomer church is her faithful members who are unwilling to embrace the American Dream finish line. They have tested truth and found it true. They have refused to simply love self and discovered instead that to give of themselves is the shortest route to unexplainable contentment/satisfaction. They have endured through life’s numerous and varied trials to discover that, because their God is faithful, hope endures. And suddenly, with disposable time on their hands, sustainable resources in their treasure, and fine-tuned skills in their tool-belt, they refuse to quit. For them the “finish line” toward which they press is not a retirement from life, but simply a retooling for great effectiveness in service. Their finish is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So until He calls them home, they choose to give of themselves and to serve!

What if we finish our “race” only to discover that we still have fuel in our tank and tread on our tires?

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith…” 2 Timothy 4:7

See you Sunday, Church!
Pastor Tom