Article August 11, 2008 Issue

RETIREMENT—WILLING TO CHANGE COURSE

BY DAVID CORNELL

Recently , my wife, Linda, and I retired from jobs we had enjoyed for several decades. So, what next? Liberated from the usual expectation of daily migration to an office, we paused to reflect on the meaning of this change in our lives.

We study the Bible every day and regularly set aside time to pray, so it was natural to seek answers to our situation through prayer. What was God telling us about change? Searching the Bible for guidance on this subject, we found help in one of the Apostle Paul's letters to the Christians in Corinth. Referring to the resurrection of Jesus as a process requisite for everyone, he says, "We shall be changed" (I Cor. 15:52).

Evidently, Paul was encouraging a radical change—in this case a "resurrection"—for all of his listeners, including those of us reading his words today. Wasn't Paul calling the living to rise up out of deadly and spirit-deadening thoughts that life is based on material circumstances? Wasn't he urging us, as Christ Jesus urged his followers, to view life as spiritual and eternal? As Linda and I continued praying about retirement, we welcomed this view of life eternal as our model.

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