Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I mentioned last week that Cheryl and I volunteered as workers for Vacation Bible School at our congrgation. It was a great week and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. This past Sunday our worship service was a celebration of VBS as well, with the kids singing a couple of the songs they learned.

Last Saturday, we attended a birthday party for a friend of ours. A member of the guest of honor’s family was visiting with me, and asked me what I was doing these days. I told him we just finished a week of VBS at the church. He had a puzzled look on his face, He said, “I thought you were retired?” I replied, “I am. But that doesn’t mean I have stopped serving Jesus!”

I look at it this way: Full-time ministry is no longer what I do for a living. It is what I do because I was given new life by Jesus. I am still called by God to minister to my neighbor whenever and wherever I can do so. It may be helping out at my congregation, preaching somewhere so another pastor can go on vacation, helping a friend move into assisted living, sitting down and listening to someone share what is going on in his or her life. As long as I am physically able, I will continue to help with things like Disaster Response and Habitat for humanity.

Each day I ask God to help me be His witness to the people I encounter. I want them to know the love of God in Christ that I know. I want them to have the certainty of sin forgiven and life eternal, all because of what Jesus did for us. I don’t want to retire from that until Jesus welcomes me into His presence.