An Old Guy Trying to Get Through!

As I approached a bend in the narrow Guernsey lane where I had gone walking this week, a dense cloud of mainly sand and grit billowed out from the building site that was a centuries-old farmhouse, filling the roadway ahead. A workman in a spacesuit-like protective kit was sand-blasting the ancient walls in a picture of contrasts. I was about to turn back instead of entering the threatening swirl of choking detritus when a fellow workman switched off the powerful engine of the sand-blaster, shouting to the spaceman ‘Hang on - there’s an old guy who wants to get through’!

I looked all around me to see this old chap but nobody else was waiting so he must have meant me. At 71 I felt a bit miffed at his description and wondered if it really was that obvious that I am getting older, but after I passed the obstruction, and the spaceman resumed his forced removal of centuries of grime, I reflected on what had been said. I am an old guy who wants to get through! I want to get through what is probably the autumn of my life without losing my sense of God’s leading me every day, and the effectiveness of serving God’s purpose and destiny for my being here. 

A few days ago we returned from a week’s holiday in Majorca, rejoicing in the direct flights now available from our island to theirs in the Mediterranean. In the resort were huge date palm trees, soaring high into the Majorcan sky and heavy with fruit. In our hotel room we read together the verses of Psalm 92:12-14 where it says that God’s people will be like palm trees, bearing fruit in their old age. Date palms are usually quite old before they start bearing fruit and can even be laden with dates after they're 80 years old!

So, how can we older folk remain fruitful and ‘get through’ these challenging times? Well, we can remain grounded in faith and relationship with God just like the strong root systems of Middle-Eastern date palms. We can choose daily to live with faith, hope, and love, not bitterness, resentment, and regret. Having faith and hope can be tough as our bodies decay and our thinking processes slow down,  but we choose to press through the clouds of difficulty and keep trusting God and His Word (the Bible).

We also have an important place as mentors and role models for younger Christians. To mentor someone is to draw alongside them with words of encouragement, offering support and confidence when things are hard for them. It is too easy to criticise and lecture young folk as the years go by, when God’s calling on us is to gently lead and inspire by our example and loving patience and perseverance.

And then we can pray. I heard recently from a lady in her 80’s who recently led a prayer team at the Limitless Youth Conference organised by the Elim Churches in the UK at which thousands of young people gathered this summer to celebrate their faith and worship together as well as have great fun. During those few days over 600 young folk made first-time commitments to follow Christ and the prayer team were kept busy praying for youngsters with many problems in the prayer tent. She may be old, but she is most definitely still trying to get through!

So, if you are confronted with a barrier due to age or infirmity, I just want to encourage you to believe that, as a retired minister friend of mine said to me recently, ‘If you’re not dead, you’re not done yet’. There is still a work for Jesus that no one but you can do. As for me – well there is an old guy here waiting to get through!