A RETIREMENT PLAN?

So did all you guys out there on the Left Coast read about Arthur Winston last week? (With a name like that we ought to issue him honorary membership in the Church of the Smoking Christian!) He passed away less than a month after retiring from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on his 100th birthday!

His co-workers had a big retirement celebration for him on his milestone birthday. He had missed only one day of work in over 70 years with the MTA and that was for his wife’s funeral back in 1988! At his retirement he said, “I’ll be on the move. I’m not going to sit and mope in the house.”

I think there is a lesson for us here. Retirement is a dangerous thing! Now retirement is not something I have to worry about. I’ll never get to retire no matter what. It takes money to retire. Or at least a retirement plan. At age 52 that is something I still don’t have. My plan is to keep working as long as I can speak and hopefully drop dead in the middle of preaching an inspiring sermon!

We’ve all known or heard of guys retiring after a long working life who drop dead within a few short months. It’s always very sad. I’ve heard their widows say things like, “We have tickets for a cruise next month.” Or, “We never got to do all the things we’ve been planning to do all our lives.”

There’s a lesson here too. Don’t wait until retirement to do those things! My parents have been the exception here. Since my dad retired they have traveled to so many countries that I think they have even lost count! My younger sisters and I have spent the last ten years watching our inheritance frittered away in Europe, Australia, Asia, and everywhere in between! My mom loves to say that we shouldn’t count on any inheritance because they are planning on spending it all. Have you heard this too?

There’s another lesson I think. Try to convince your parents that it’s really dangerous out there and they’d be much better off staying at home where it’s safe. (Unless they live in Fullerton.) If that doesn’t work, take your parents on very strenuous hiking trips and see if you can’t cut short the time they have to spend your inheritance. (That’s not even funny.)

Kudos to Arthur Winston. He’s my new hero! I’m just having trouble imagining a 95-year-old cutting edge, emergent pastor. I need to make sure that wherever I live when I’m forced into retirement that I have a nice garage.

You guys are all great! Thanks for stopping by!