We Have an Encore Waiting - Part II

Mark E. Haskins

November 22, 2024

What might our encore, elder/sage years look like?   Recall that the total body of those who follow, and love Jesus Christ is comprised of many different parts (I Corinthians 12).  That is no less true for those in the encore phase of life.  My friend Jeff is a mentor to several young men and his old-guys softball team, helping them each see their Heavenly Father in ways that are life-giving and loving.  Paul, a former dentist, studies the scriptures and has helped get a retirement/assisted living facility built in his small hometown.  Eleanor brings her love for Jesus to her Bible study groups and the pickle ball court as well as periodically leading history tours along the eastern seaboard for a variety of school groups.  Bill takes the time, and goes out of his way, to visit those he knows are shut in, ill, or alone praying with them and even providing the Lord’s Supper communion for and with them.  When hard times befall friends, Carl calls with a sincere word of empathy and encouragement.  Ruth loves on you when you are with her, making you feel seen and valued.  Emma continues to provide counseling to those that seek her out.  Leslie tirelessly gives her time, energy, love, and wisdom to her young granddaughters.  David is generous with his IT expertise to those who have questions, and he will then start a conversation to get to know you better.   All are ministers engaged in non-professional ministry, making a loving and valued difference where they are.

Since Jesus is awakened in those who follow Him (John 14: 20 and 26; John 17: 23), each of these seasoned people is simply bringing their journey’s wisdom and the Lord Himself to their everyday places and the people they encounter.  It’s a beautiful tapestry of outreach, connection, engagement, and moments seized.  They are patient and genuine in their pursuits and in letting their paths unfold.  Yes, they have plans and tasks to be done but those do not take priority over their desire to walk ever closer with the Lord and to seize the moments to connect with others that arise during the unfolding of their days.

Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus living in such a manner, too.  He is fully in the moment with His disciples, explaining and teaching (Matthew 18), comforting and enjoying His friends (the first parts of both John 11 and 12), and caring for the crowds that have come to hear Him (Matthew 14: 13-21).  You never get the sense that He is in a hurry to the exclusion of others.  (He does, however, run short of patience with the religious leaders of His day.)  He whole-heartedly engages with strangers—the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), the woman who touches the hem of His garment (Matthew 9), the invalid man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5), and the Roman centurion (Matthew 8).  And interestingly and importantly, He is always asking questions of those He encounters even though He is the Son of God and knows the answers before He asks.   He wants them to honestly identify and express their thoughts, their desires, their fears.  Indeed, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus asks over 90 questions in interacting with others.  In doing so He gently probes and connects with the deep parts of a person’s heart and thinking.  And He encourages and enables us to connect with others (e.g., I Corinthians 2: 9-12, Colossians 4: 5-6, and I Peter 4: 11) by our engagement and offering of ourselves to them.

I once asked a dear pastor mentor something akin to: “How do I know what God wants me to do?”  His two-fold answer was quite simple and, in my mind, quite correct and applicable to our encore thinking. “Mark, you need to be in close communion with your Heavenly Father.”  By that he meant, the Lord must be your daily desire and the One to whom you are always talking.  My mentor friend then reminded me, “Just like you can’t steer a boat that is not moving, take steps of faith as best as you discernibly can, and He will open and close doors.  If you are waiting for Him to reveal a long-term, detailed road map of where He will take you, that is not usually what He provides.”  In short:  Get up.  Get oriented.  Get out.  Get going.  Indeed, I believe He will graciously and quite naturally provide the what, the where, the who, and the how for the benefit of His kingdom.  And in that regard, we will need to lean into mystery—His mystery—because it will not all be clear ahead of time.  As my mentor friend also reminded me, “We don’t get tomorrow’s grace today.”

Please know that the Lord is not asking us to be supermen or superwomen nor does He want us to be lone rangers.  He wants us to be who we are in Him.  He can use the “me” He made and the “you” He made.  That is why we are where we are and who we are.  We need to be on the move, open-minded, open-handed, and open-hearted.  Such a journey does require trust, humility, boldness, and vulnerability, with eyes wide open.  For this journey, I have also found it best to be willing to meet others more than halfway, regularly pray with a trusted sojourner, have a small group of close friends with whom you gather frequently, and avoid placing spoken or unspoken “shoulds” on yourself and others.  Offer and invite stories, for they provide rich and revelatory grist for meaningful conversation and connection.  Your story.  Their story.  Listen carefully and nonjudgmentally for glimpses of priorities, fears, uncertainties, desires, loves, regrets, vulnerabilities, and self-recriminations.  Be alert to clues indicative of the enemy’s beachhead in a heart as well as how our Heavenly Father is viewed.  Such insights can point to fertile ground for caring conversational exploration.

I have recently completed my seventh decade.  In some ways, that sounds unbelievable.  In another sense, I feel primed and ready for what’s next.  We don’t know what our remaining runway looks like—neither in terms of length nor content.  We do know, however, as long as we are still here, we can tap into Him in us, partner with Him, trust Him, all to simply be the best ambassador for Him that we can be.  He will take care of the rest.  “Lord, what do you have in store for me, for each of us, today?  Help us to see and be bold for every encore moment, big or small, that arises.”