John N N Ng’ang’a Meditation Of 10th June 2024 Preparing For Old Age. What do you do in retirement?
Day 1
Numbers 8
24 “This applies to the Levites: M: men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, 25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. 26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”
Talking about old age note number one, it is a privilege to be old.In Africa we respect age. when I go to Europe they always talk about Africa and the respect they have for old people, but sometimes we old people do not know how privileged we are. It is important to just think about how living in Africa in old age is good.
The other day I was a speaker in a high school of which I was the founding Chairman of the Board. It is now a government school, but the church is the one that was the sponsor. So, while working for Shell the church asked me to help start the school. So We started the school along with others on the first board. When I went there recently, I was looking at those form ones, and thankful to God that he gave me the privilege of starting the school in my 30s.
I remembered that I was a form one fifty 56 years ago. I did my primary school final exam…KPE, in 1967, so 1968, I was a form 1. And I said, waaah. Isn’t the Lord good that in over fifty years later I can be talking to them? Of course, their parents were not born when I was a Form 1. You know the people with form ones are in their forties. Am I right? So, the parents of these people were not born 56 years ago. So being alive is a privilege to me and my agemates.
And so, if you ’do not hear anything else in this reading, you are reading this to be told to be thankful. you came to be told you are privileged.
The second point I have is that there is nothing you have done to be qualified to reach old age. Okay, you may talk about eating well, but let’s be fair, even people who eat well die. It is very important to understand that you are here as a privilege for you cannot praise yourself or thank yourself for having reached the age of over sixty. It is God who has given you the privilege to be at this age. And so, in old age, one of your daily prayers should be a prayer of thankfulness.
As you look back and remember when you were sick, and how God rescued you from that sickness you become even more grateful. I remember I used to be a Shell manager in Kisumu in my thirties and one day I was driving towards Kisumu, and at Stem Hotel my new car had a head-on collision. I have never seen it after that, yet that car was only six months old. Shell bought me a brand-new car. It was written off in that accident, but I am still alive. I have never seen that car because the insurance wrote it off. And so, we got money to buy a new one. Yet, I am here, isn’t it?
I am sure as you look at your life in old age, you can count the many miracles that have brought you here. One of the big issues will be before you sleep tonight to list ten things that are miracles in your life. Ten things that you can look back and you know God intervened in those places for you to survive to be here today. I have already given you a few of mine. But I am sure you have yours.You need a thankful heart. You need a heart that is grateful to the one who did the miracle.
Day 2
because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb.
You know there is a song that we like singing in Church called Count Your Blessings you are asked to name them one by one. Unfortunately,, we sing the song but we ’do not do it. Most of us count the other way around. We count our curses, naming them one by one. It surprises us how bad our life has been. Now, the choice is yours. Either to count your curses or count your blessings. And the songwriter says, if you count your blessings, it will surprise you what the Lord has done for you.
So old age has a choice. You can be a bitter old man or a thankful old man. The choice is yours.
My third point in this introduction is to say there is no retirement scripturally speaking. Did you notice the portion of scripture we read that used the word retirement and then contradicted it? Let us read Numbers 8:23-26
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “This applies to the Levites: M: men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, 25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. 26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”
Did you notice the word the passage used is retired but after reading the whole passage you would call it reallocation of duties. Because then we have just learnt that when you retire, you ’do not sit back, you now join the people to assist the ones doing the work., whereas the Levites have a change of duties, old people who are not Levites had no change of duties. Everybody died on duty. David was a King until death bed when they even had to get a small girl to keep him warm.
So, we now can understand that the term retirement is a secular word, it is not a scriptural word. You do not retire. However,, for the Priests, there was a change of duties depending on age. It is not for everyone. It is for those who are priests. They are the ones who are being told to change duties. So, the idea of retirement in people’s minds as a time to cease work and rest, a time to do nothing is unbiblical. That is not scripture. The scripture does not see a time when a human being who is healthy will sleep until another wakes him up.
And by the way, sleeping like that is not very difficult to understand. You know the younger you are the more sleep you have but the less time you have for sleep. The older you are, the more time you have for sleep but the less sleep you have. Did you see the contradiction? Even if you stay in bed, you are not asleep, sleep has gone as you grow older. That is the way you know you are getting old. Because you have the time to sleep but you have no sleep.
Maybe sleep reduces to remind you there is nothing like retirement. I have coined a new word for myself. I say I did not retire, I got retyred, I got new tyres. You know when you have a lorry you can either use it with the old tyres or you buy new ones before a new trip. Tyres are so expensive, they are about maybe twenty-twenty-five per cent of the total cost of running a transport fleet. I was in charge of logistics for Shell for several countries, so I know the figures. I want to tell you no businessman will buy new tyres unless he has a contract to go somewhere.
Day 3
but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.
So, what you are becoming at the age of sixty-sixty is to be retyred, get new tyres. The question is, what are you going to do with the new tyres? Since I retired from Shell, I am able to do what I could not do while at Shell. I could not give talks on retirement during office hours. The reason I am able to do it is because I have new tyres.
Are you getting the point? I have seen opportunities upon opportunities that came because I stopped working for Shell. My wife in her assessment thinks I am now busier than I was when I was in Shell. I have opportunities in the country, and even out of the country, which have just made my life busy in the so-called retirement years. Just as an example one week, I gave a seminar on retirement in Nairobi, the following day a seminar for parastatals in Naivasha and that Saturday morning a seminar for the Nairobi Baptist Church. That Saturday afternoon I left straight off to Chuka University because I am training leaders for all the Universities, organized by FOCUS for all universities in the Mount Kenya area. I then stayed overnight to speak to Chuka University students on that Saturday night. Then Sunday morning I preached to them and then came back for a meeting on Sunday evening in Nairobi. And then Monday morning, I was with the board of the World Vision retreat in Naivasha. We spent two days retreat with them. Do you get the point? That somehow God has opened opportunities that were not possible as long as I was not called retired.
So, the truth is I am not retired, I am retyred. I can do things the old tyres were not able to do. If I ’do not deliver anything else, I hope everybody after reading this is asking, God when the employer releases me what do you want me to do? Go God because you have something for me to do but I am not clear now. So, the idea is to spend the remaining period before you leave the employment asking, God what do you intend to do with me.
Day 4
Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King
When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.
But some people can no longer do any work. Let me tell you what true retirement is. True retirement is sickness Because even if I want to run around, the day God puts me in a bed and I can’t rise no work will happen. My friend, the tyres have stopped, isn’t it?
So, retirement is not an issue of not working, it is an issue of getting sick. The day you are too sick to work you are retired ... So, when that time comes ’do not complain, say, God now I know you want me to rest. Because if He wants you to work, He will heal you.
So, as long as you have health, ’do not look at your age, ’do not look at whether you are eighty yet. Eighty is meaningless. The issue is, are you healthy? The word ... is not age, ... is health. The word ... is not age, ... is health. The word ... is not age, ... is health.. If you are ninety like our retired attorney general Njonjo was, and you are healthy to work.Did you see him on TV being interviewed? He talks like a boy, and he is ninety now. You know the Njonjo I am talking about, and then another guy who is only sixty is calling himself old? Surely, that is a contradiction. At sixty, you have more than thirty years less than Njonjo. So how could a small boy of sixty call himself old? There is a problem. Age is just but a number.
So, you must of necessity work. If God is going to give you ninety years like Njonjo or Moi, my friend you need to ask yourself, I have been a teacher for thirty-five years, yet I have another thirty years to live, I cannot just sit. What will I do?
What you do will be a little different because you will not be moved around like the employer did. That is what God is releasing you from. So, you have to think of a new how to continue working. The same way as a young man does. You are to ask God, what do you want with my life? You must ask God, what do you want me to do in your service if the employer releases me? And ’that is really what we are talking about, a change.
Although I am talking about retirement, I thought the best way of helping with the transition is to talk about change management, what happens at retirement is a change. It is not that you will stop working, it is that there will be a new change. The question is, what will you do?
The biggest problem is people retiring without a mission in life. Once you retire without a mission you will be a problem for your wife. No.It may be your husband. It depends on whether you are male or female. My friend, if your spouse has no plan for retirement, please accept my sympathies in advance. You are going to be in trouble. He will be a disturbance because you will try to do your things, and then he interferes. You want to go somewhere he says, you haven’t cooked for me, because he is idle. Now, my friend, what you must avoid is old, idle, bitter people. They are a real interference, not only to their performance but even to the family performing.
Day 5
Ephesians 3
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
So, you need to hear the voice of God. What does He want you to do after you leave employment? By the way, although here I am retired, I am still young in my early seventies. Just a young man. So, because in our time we were retiring at fifty-five, I have been retired for many years. So, I am not old, I am a young man. But it is important to understand that I can give testimony about retirement. ’that is why I am able to write this and give a retirement talk. I can give testimony to the fact that God has opened many doors that were never part of my work in my earlier life.
Before I retired, I had clarity. I prayed about the things to do.For example, just to give you a few testimonies, I gave myself to be available, especially in training leaders.That is one of the things I felt I could help in. Shell invested a lot of effort in me, in training me as a leader, both in the Country and out of the country. And I thought one of the things God wanted me to do after I leave Shell is to share the things God taught me as a manager, as a leader, with the people, both in the church and out of the church. But I thought it would be going to universities and talking to the student leaders, things like that.
But God in his way opened doors I had no idea about. When I used to work for Shell, part of my time I covered ten countries of Africa. So, I was travelling all over covering the countries that were under me. But I thought now that I was retired, I would sit and drive around to train local leaders. But within the period that I have retired, God has opened doors to countries that I never went to when paid for by Shell. The other day I saw myself in Chad, seated next to the prime minister of the country, training his cabinet. And I thought, waah, would I have imagined this? You know some people think it is the answer to a prayer. I never prayed for it. You know when you hear Ephesians three say that He does beyond our imagination. It is true.. Have you read that one? In other words you never prayed for it. He has done that for me.
Another time I was seated with the cabinet of the Central African Republic. Another time I was in Zambia only on the following day to be in the headlines of the Zambian papers. And I told them, are they aware in Kenya, nobody puts me in the newspaper. Somehow it is not something that I ever prayed for. I just see myself as the doors opening doing things I never imagined.
In one year, one month of March I am in Southern Sudan, April in Rwanda, and none of them have I made any effort to be involved. I just get an email, or I just get a letter. Somehow God knows that I am not retired, I am only retyred. And so, opens many, many doors.
Day 6
Acts 13:36
36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.
So, similarly, look to him as you prepare for retirement. I am giving a testimony so that you understand, you have to consult God. What does He want you to do? And you know, what He wants you to do may not necessarily be to compete with the young Pastor in your parish. Another Bishop I was talking to the other day, I asked, what he intends to do after retirement? He said, he had a lot of things he wanted to do. These are things he has been telling his congregants and they were not doing them, but he could do as a Pastor. He said I am going to go into social work, organizing groups so that they can develop their area.
That does not’ mean you become an MP. Since you are old and you have influence, you can influence development wherever you are. And ’that is what my friend Bishop feels called to do. And using the fact that He has been a Pastor will give him some credibility, isn’t it? But ’that is what he feels called to. I am not suggesting that you also do it. I am saying, find out, what is it you need to do?
Might be a business. You have been seeing businesses done badly. There is nothing evil, and I hope the Pastor will agree with me, that a former Bishop deciding to run a business, to run it in such a way that it is a testimony it can be run well. Is that possible?
But, only do it if the Lord has called you to it. For all these years you have been telling your congregation, business can be done ethically. And you say, God now I have the opportunity to demonstrate it. I will do it so that they can see it was not theoretical, it can be done.
So, it is important to ask yourself, what is God calling you to do? And it may not necessarily be in the business. And if He calls you in the church, be a volunteer, offer yourself, and make yourself available to the Bishop of your area so that he can send you now like an evangelist from church to church doing, whenever he runs out of time to do. My father-in-law, Rebecca’s father was a Pastor with an Anglican Church for more than forty years. And when he was retiring, at sixty-five, we were debating what was he going to do. After some time he came to visit me in Nairobi and he said, you know, the truth is, I am doing the same things I was doing earlier, the only thing is I am not now given a travelling allowance. Somebody wants to get wedded he says I prefer retired canon so and so, another one wants burial, Canon so and So, he is busy running everywhere only he is now not officially on payroll. So that God can make you available to help the church as a volunteer. The only thing is, if God gives you such opportunities, then tell God also to give you money for transport because the church will not give you. the Lord will give you If ’that is what He has called you to do.
Day 7
and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
I have been involved in what people call tent-making ministry all my years and so I have never had any salary from the church. So, can’t you as a Pastor also leave the church, you are not getting any money from the church like Paul makes tents to pay your transport bills. Is that possible? So that you are not looking at the church to give you any money. Like my father-in-law finally said, I am using my money to now move around, doing weddings, doing baptisms wherever he is sent, but that way he is busy serving the Lord. But now the money he has saved or the money he has invested is what he is using to continue with ministry. Are those possibilities for you?
Before we finish this discussion assess yourself about how you are ready for the change called retirement. We are talking about change and preparing for change. So, the first question is, why do people resist change?
We are not talking about you, we are talking about people, and it is not a change for retirement, any change. Think about it. Why are we doing that? So that we can find out whether those reasons are in you. No. wonder why you started feeling a little stressed because of thinking that it is only two years to retire. Why do people resist change?
Question number two, do you look at retirement as a big or small change in your life? Do you look at retirement as a big or small change in your life? Do you look at retirement as a big or small change in your life? I know you are retiring one of these days. Will it be a big change or a small change? If big, why? If small, why? In that reasoning, we will see your perspective to retirement.
Third question, how can you reduce resistance to this change? If you are a counsellor, you are advising somebody how to not resist retirement, and to be happy about it what would you tell them? What will you advise this person whom you are helping to prepare for retirement or any change?
Finally, what do you plan to do to ensure your quality of life does not go down in retirement? That is something that worries people. What do you plan to do to ensure even after retirement your quality of life remains about the same? What are you planning to do financially to ensure that? If you are fifty, I am asking the question rather late. I was told that finally, everybody leaves at around sixty. But if you are fourty-five, there is still quite a lot of time, isn’t it? So, it is important to ask, what do you plan to do as part of ensuring that your retirement life continues to be the same?
Audio Preachings
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for Audio Preachings
Get access to my books on Amazon:
Marketplace Leadership - The Nehemiah Style
Christianity and Culture
Discover your Life's Purpose
A Leader's Work Ethics
The Secret of Contentment
A Leader's Source of Influence
Christian Professionals - Leading in the Marketplace
The Character of an Influential Leader
Leadership King David's Style
Integrity - The Litmus Test of Good Leadership
The Leader as a Steward
Finding a Life Partner
Friendship
Check out previous devotions on www.johnnganga.org
