Still pressing on!

My wife and I have officially been retired fourteen years. Retired from active Salvation Army officership that is, but certainly not from ministry. Our calling is for life, not for just a season.

Lots of things we had planned to do during retirement are still not done! Where has all the time gone? There are things undone, and things half done; some things have been put off and some things not even attempted yet. I am reminded of what John Keats wrote many years ago.

"When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,

I have just completed chapter 54 of "This is my story"- my autobiography. After living for half a century and serving 28 years as a Salvation Army officer in Singapore and Malaysia, we were appointed to take charge of the Army's work in Hong Kong and Taiwan. So next chapter will be on Hong Kong - January 1983 to June 1990 - seven and a half years of adventure for the Lord.

I have also committed to doing Bible lessons on Revelation and up till now have completed 34 lessons. So there is plenty to do yet and will there be time given me to continue writing my memoirs? I don't know. The Lord knows.

I remind myself there is an appointed time for everything.

A time to give birth, and a time to die:
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing;
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

These words written so many years ago are appropriate for us today. “For everything there is a season. A time to be born and a time to die.” In one brief statement Solomon expressed the fragility of life. “There is a time to be born and a time to die.”

Now time to stop and get on with some work!