RBWords

    These words of Moses are both poignant and amusing!  They could be the words of any person who has become elderly and realizes that they will leave many things they hoped to accomplish undone or to be done by others - in this case by Joshua!  The amusement, unintentional I'm sure, comes with saying, "I am now one hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to move about freely!"  I'm "only" 68, and I know that the travel demanded by my itinerant ministry or by my desire to visit friends around the country is just getting more and more "tiring."  As the old saying goes, "My get-up-and-go has got up and gone!"  Well, at least it's "going," but I'll keep at it as long as I can.  Moses can serve as an example!

     One of the great blessings of my years in campus ministry has been the friends I've made whose lives have intersected mine in significant ways - college crises, weddings, baptisms, etc.  Each year a new group of freshmen would arrive and the desire to see them through those undergraduate years and on into their lives beyond that has motivated me to continue the acquaintance in personal and pastoral ways (e.g. this online preaching).  I am now baptizing the grandchildren of student parishioners from the late 1970's.  Those students still seem forever young to me while my body tells me that I am "getting older."  The occasional question in casual conversation - on a plane or some social event - "Are you retired?" always comes as a surprise to me, but I must indeed "look" elderly and unconsciously "acting my age!"   I know as a matter of faith that eternal life will exceed all of this joy, but I am very grateful for the joy I have now and pray that when the time comes, I can maintain it through the communion of saints.  I may not make it to one hundred and twenty, like Moses, but I'll try to "move about freely" as long as I can with God's help and yours!   AMEN