The last two years of my life have been an interesting journey.
In 1991, at the age of 35, my wife and I started Pacesetter Mortgage with the written goal of retiring at the age of 50.
In September of 2006, exactly on my 50th birthday, to the day, we sold our company and all of our physical assets and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona to retire.
I was dumbfounded that this all occurred. Even more so because that last transaction, the sale of our home, happened exactly on my 50th birthday!
My wife and I struggled to believe that this was really happening. Could this be true?
Because we were so young, it didn't make sense to touch our main stash of cash. Therefore we decided to let that pot simmer for 8 years or so (it should double in that time), and live on other income producing assets that we had.
What I didn't count on was a dark cloud of depression setting in. I had spent 15 years on a very fast track, and now here I was, in the prime of my business career, sidelined by my own doing. I was miserable.
Further still, here we are a year later and the Dow has gone from a high of 14,000 to 9,200 today. Hmmm...my wonderful plan doesn't seem to be God's plan. To be honest, I have been struggling with this as well.
Back in February, I started this blog and have spent nearly 20 hours each week in devout study of God's word determined to find some answers.
To my great joy, I have found a great treasure of peace and my worldview has completely changed.
So, heavenly Father, friends, and family, hear me... I am not retired. There...I said it! Pride be damned! I have learned that God does not want me sitting around on my butt getting fat and drinking latte.
I am in the prime of my business life and I have a lot to offer. It is my greatest desire to use my skills in God's kingdom, however, until that path is clear, I am going to pour my efforts into a business consulting practice that we have just started.
If any of you hear me use that "R" word again, would you kindly remind me that my retirement lasted two years and now it is time to get to work for God?
I just finished reading a little booklet that Dr. John Piper wrote called, "Rethinking Retirement". In this text, Dr. Piper pleads, "Don't throw your life away on the American Dream of retirement".
From Dr. Piper:
"That is my prayer for you as well. I close with
a passion and a promise. The passion is Psalm
71:18—a passion to make the greatness of God
known to the generations we are leaving behind:
“Even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not
forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another
generation, your power to all those to come.”
O that God would give us a passion in our final
years to spend ourselves to make him look as
great as he really is—to finish life to the glory of
Christ."The promise: Isaiah 46:3–4, “[You] have been
borne by me from before your birth, carried from
the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to
gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will
bear; I will carry and will save.” Don’t be afraid,
Christian. You will persevere. You will make it
home. Sooner than you think. live dangerously
for the one who loved you and died for you in
his thirties. Don’t throw your life away on the
American dream of retirement. You are as secure
as Christ is righteous and God is just. Don’t settle
for anything less than the joyful sorrows of magni-
fying Christ in the sacrifices of love. And then in
the last Day, you will stand and hear, “Well done,
good and faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of
your master” (Matthew 25:21, 23)."
I have a new passion: To proclaim to the next generation the beauty of Christ, the holiness of God, the way through the narrow gate, and to share with all whom I meet, God's worldview.
Dear Abba,
Please give us the wisdom, the courage, and the strength to live so.
Your son and daughter,
David & Carol Porter
