My Pick and Shovel
Theme for this Week: Growing Old Is an Oxymoron
Roger C. Palms
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
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My Pick and Shovel
Theme for this Week: Growing Old Is an Oxymoron
Wednesday, February 20
Key Bible Verse: The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old (Proverbs 20:29). Bonus Reading:John 1:19–23
After a career in pastoral ministry and more than 21 years as editor of Decision magazine, I knew there was one more task I needed to do: clear the way for others to make new roads. There are people coming along who need teaching; I can do that. There's encouragement to be given, help in showing the way; I can do that, too. God's given me a pick and shovel and said, "Clear the way; road builders are coming along behind."
An e-mail from an editor in Finland tells me, "We are already implementing the changes you suggested when you taught us here." A Ph.D. candidate tells me that he's now getting published, after being in a writing class I taught at his seminary.
I'm not alone. Christians with years of experience and the wisdom that goes with it, who no longer have a need to prove themselves—if they ever did—are investing in others coming along behind them.
The best part about preparing the way is that I can keep on doing it for the rest of my life. I don't have to live to see the results. Some roads may not be built until long after I'm gone. My job is to be faithful to God's leading now. Each of us can do that.
—Roger C. Palms
My Response: One way I could invest the rest of my life as a "way clearer" is …
Thought to Apply: Age, health, and stage in life have nothing to do with serving or not. In each season of life are … qualities … that God values.
—Bruce Kemper
Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
January/February 2002,Vol. 5,No. 1
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