Through The Valley To A New Life of Service and Excitement

My final Sunday as Interim Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Tomball, TX. is next Sunday, May 24. That afternoon the congregation will accept Pastor Chris Hull from Illinois as their new shepherd.  He will be installed into office at a special service that afternoon. He is scheduled to arrive with his wife and family the middle of this week. He will preach his first sermon on May 31, Holy Trinity Sunday.

These past two weeks I've received a few friendly comments about my returning to retirement. My usual response has been that I can find no mention of retirement in the Bible. However, upon reflection, I may have to take back that statement. It does occur to me that for one reason or another some of the primary personages in the Bible did indeed retire—at least for a time. Here, for example, I'm thinking about Moses. When Moses impulsively killed an Egyptian who was beating one of Moses' people, he fled—retired if you will, because the Egyptian Pharaoh wanted to kill him.

"But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.  .  ." - Exo 2:15 ESV

Midian was on the other side of the Red Sea. Life changed radically for Moses in that land. He married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and retired from the luxurious life of a prince of Egypt to the relatively quiet one of a shepherd. Later, in his 80's, the LORD God confronted him in a "burning bush that was not consumed by fire" on Mount Horeb. And so began the well known story of his being sent to lead the exodus of the children of Israel.

I've reflected often upon that story during these past 20 months while serving Zion. Like Moses, I was 80 years old when I received and accepted God's new Call to serve again as a public minister of His Word. By God's grace I have not been asked to serve for 40 years in the wilderness, however. My 20 months of service come now to an end. What awaits ahead I do not yet know.

The simple point I make is that each of us has a call to follow Christ, the Good Shepherd, who leads us through a sometimes bewildering journey to the Father's house. He leads. We follow. He feeds and provides. We lie down in His green pastures. We take comfort knowing that He watches over us with His rod and staff. One day soon He will lead me and all who follow Him safely home.

Then will begin an eternal retirement from the darkness of this world's valley. Meanwhile I can hardly wait for the joy and excitement of that new phase of my life eternal with Him.