Oh how I looked forward to retirement.  That was a year and a half ago.  What’s happened since?

Retirement got my home projects completed with the allotted amount of money I had left.  Now that sits dormant till I catch back up.  There’s still crown molding to get and put up.  Still, doors to paint.  Really, I would like to replace them.  There’s always something to do if you’re a homeowner.

But here’s the kicker.  I retired from Civil Service.  The work-a-day world was over, but the need to work at something is still there.  I looked around and found most of the guys who retired in around the same time as I did are back to work somewhere.  The drive from years of getting up and going to a job are so stamped on our minds. I think we find ourselves empty handed and wanting for something to do.

My wife still is in the work force for a bit longer.  I wish she could retire as well.  Well, you know where I’m going with this anyway.  She’s like me.  Has to have something going on all the time.  Not to say either of us can’t find a season of some program and flop down occasionally and binge watch all of it.  But we do want something to do.

So what happened?  I started driving cars as a dealer trade driver for multiple dealerships under a contract outfit.  But I found the guy in charge cherry picked his drivers and I might get a call once or twice a month.  I can’t sit around waiting for him to decide he hasn’t got enough drivers so he calls me kind of thing.  I found one dealership that I went to work for and quit the former.  They call me about the same amount, but pay better and I don’t have to pay for the gas in their vehicles and wait a month for reimbursement.

Libby and I went to the ETTP class that certifies people to be substitute teachers.  I didn’t get hired for that, but I was taking the school bus driver’s class at about the same time and that I did get.  I became a substitute bus driver, but the day I walked in I was handed two routes and drove them the rest of the year like a regular driver.  This coming year I’ve been picked up as a regular driver and will be assigned a couple of routes most likely and all I can hope is that I get back at least one of the two I had last year if not both.

I’m getting to something here.  I’m sneaking in the leadings and callings of God on you.  People are not meant to retire.  I’ve never been able to understand a called of God minister pop up one day and say they are retiring.  Being called of God to the ministry is like marriage.  Do you for one instant think of retiring from marriage?  I hope not.  Some of us have our circumstances in life that prevent us from a life-long marriage to one person, but if we are married and intent to make it a life-long commitment there is no retiring.

So what I have here is what God has led me to do.  I was given an open door to driving a school bus.  Not only did I get a lesson in reshaping myself to enjoy children and young people, but I get to pour into them what God has given me.  They are my congregation.  They are my responsibility.  I take this seriously.

Driving cars for a dealership is rewarding and the person who I deal with the most is a preacher and a gospel singer.  I think there’s a reason for our connection there as well.

Connection with a ministry that serves the homeless, the poor and destitute has given me an outlet to renew my skills with fixing bicycles.  I’m sure most of us will realize how being able to ride a bike expanded our territory when we got our first one.  Having been a bike shop manager for several years I met a few people of which one rode from Jacksonville, NC to the California coast on his bicycle he bought in our shop.  Another person who had gotten out of the Marine Corp came in one morning with a back pack and bought a touring bicycle.  He said he had a few months before he wanted to get back into the routines of life, so he was riding his new bicycle home.  I asked where did he live.  He said Oregon.  So, just something so simple as a bicycle opens up a whole new world to some people.  It just depends on how far do you want to take it?

The same goes with the Bible.  Yesterday I wrote about my old Bible.  I see some people receive a new Bible with their name on it and some little inscription inside congratulating them on some accomplishment.  I wonder what they do with that Bible.  Do they devour that new book or do they set in on a desk in their room to gather dust?

Okay.  So I said all the above to say this.  We may retire from a job, but we don’t retire from life.  Life goes on and we are to endeavor to continue to increase our borders.  I still have a lot to do and a lot to learn.  Everyone who reads this should readily be aware of something they intend to or want to do.  If you’ve left it to gather dust, get it out and blow it off and clean it up, whatever it is.  You’ve got work to do.