Slowing Down from a Calling

I was suffering from what a minister-friend called, “intestinal uncertainty” but it was certain enough that I did what I almost never do – cancelled a nearby speaking engagement, and then cancelled an out-of-country trip. When I saw the doctor I told him, half in jest, “I need to retire one of these days” to which he replied, not in jest, “No, you don’t need to retire, but you do need to slow down.” Then he added a rather profound thought, “Knowing how much you travel and how many different restaurants where you eat, I’m not surprised you have this problem. I am surprised you don’t have it more often.” Robert Louis Stevenson said, “He who sows hurry reaps indigestion.” He got that right! So, when does one slow down? I thought retirement would do it, but as I said then, “I’m retiring from a position, not from a calling.” That calling has kept me rather busy. So, when does one slow-down from the calling? I don’t have an answer for that, but my doctor might. So my advice to my younger friends is do all you can, while you can, and when you can’t, don’t. Hopefully, someone will occasionally remind me of that.

Join me this week in praying for the following global concerns:
• Please set aside October 18 to join with the Euro Affinity in a Day of Prayer for Europeans. Only one percent of the people of Europe have a personal relationship with Christ.
• Pray for missionaries who are still trying to decide whether to accept their board’s early retirement offer, or remain on their field of service.
• Pray for children of missionaries who will lose their college scholarship when their parents accept their board’s early retirement initiative, since their parents will no longer be missionaries.
• Pray for missionaries who have decided to accept their board’s early retirement offer and will return to the U.S. with nowhere to live, no vehicle to drive, and no job.