Where to begin? Perhaps it will be best to start in a place with which I am most familiar, as of late. I retired on June 24, 2008 after 39 years in ministry and countless other jobs. It is a most unfamiliar place in which I find myself, but one that I am learning to appreciate. Note that it is 12:07 AM, and I do not need to worry about what time I will wake up.

Actually, that isn't exactly true, either, as I plan to walk in the morning before breakfast. I also have several projects - carry-overs - since moving all of my books and other paraphernalia from the church to our home. Bonnie has been most kind to me as I determine what to keep and what to give to Good Will. I donated nine boxes of books to a nearby seminary in hopes that others might benefit from the pages that, in large part, enabled me to be where I am today.

Parting with a book can be painful if one allows him- or herself to think too much about it. Several books were worth quite a bit of money, according to my research, but the thought of selling them somehow did not compute when I considered that others had given books to me along to way. In fact, one of the most valuable ones had come as a gift from a friend and colleague in ministry when I was starting out.

One of the most freeing aspects of retirement has been deleting emails and other files that I have deemed to be of little use to me. Again, it is akin to parting company with old friends, but I have had to wonder if perhaps these so-called friends weren't actually crutches that gave me a false sense of security. I have been recycling my sermons, with all of the marginal notes scribbled in my handwriting, as well as the last-minute Sunday morning editing; entire paragraphs were x-ed out as I wondered to myself, "What in the world was I thinking when I wrote that?"

Friedrich Nietzsche said that "only where there are graves are there resurrections." As I have buried, i.e., recycled not only sermons, but also college, seminary, and workshop notes, I have felt a lightening of the load and a quickening of the step. Newness is appearing, and I think that life is taking on a bit more color than in the past. I am beginning to appreciate this new path.