Week 369
Positive post Sunday, March 24, 2024…. Week 369. The last 2 weeks I focused on being relevant rather than being recognized and turning success into significance. I am blessed to have the opportunity to pursue both through my renewed relationship with Jay McCall and Brian Cameron.
By the grace of God, I have been blessed to have 3 generations of my family living in my home and with my parents still with us, we have four generations of our family actively engaged. So, I’ve experienced firsthand the value, relevance, significance, joy, (and yes, the challenges😊), of interacting among the generations. The glowing smile on my parents’ faces when their great-grandchildren come over and bring them drawings and cards is priceless. As a grandfather myself, I’ve also experienced that feeling of joy and pride and increased energy when my grandchildren are around. The relationships go both ways. Michele and I have worked hard to provide our children and grandchildren with a foundation of faith and family values on which to build their lives. We pray before meals together, share prayers like Our Daily Family Prayer, serve in our community and openly recognize and appreciate Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Although I am very blessed with a wonderful family and support system, I often think about the many seniors in our community who are not so fortunate. According to 2021 Profile of Older Americans, the population of Americans age 65 and older was 55.7 million in 2020. They represented 17% of the population, more than 1 in every 6 Americans. The number of older Americans has increased by 15.2 million (or 38%) since 2010, compared to an increase of 2% for the under-65 population.
Many seniors in our communities are either shut in or in hospitals, assisted living or senior living retirement homes with no family and little interaction with others. It breaks my heart to see how many of our seniors are tossed aside, isolated, and lonely, rather than respected, recognized, and heard. The seniors that do not have active family or social engagement often feel that they do not fit in, and they lose value. The opposite should be true. They deserve recognition and respect, and we all can learn from their life experiences and wisdom. They have meaningful stories, many spiritually enriching and inspiring, if we would only spend time with them and listen.
Although I am well past Halftime in my life (see last week’s PPS), and considering my recent and 3rd life threatening experience, I have decided to take a 3rd quarter timeout and reassess the balance in my life. Inspired by author Bob Buford (I finished his book Timeout) I’m expanding my parallel career, continuing to serve my deep personal commitment to advance the Kingdom of God on Earth.
I firmly believe that God reconnected me with Jay and Brian, three brothers in Christ, to help me make the transition and establish my parallel, and soon to be only, career to fulfill my deep personal commitment to serve others in God’s name. Shifting from recognition to relevance and turning our success in the business world into significance in the eyes of our Lord.
With Jay’s vision and passion to serve our seniors, our first effort is our recent soft launch of Bridge of Grace. Although still work in progress and under development, you can learn more from our website, https://bridgeofgrace.net/. Our initial focus is on bridging the gap between youth and seniors through art and stories. With the guidance of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are inspired to provide seniors with relevant and meaningful intergenerational experiences. We are leveraging the success from our diverse and complimentary careers to develop a ministry that has significance to both youth and seniors in our communities.
We are beginning in the Boise area and look forward to expanding to Southern California as we grow. Future possibilities include focusing on veterans and our community members with disabilities as well as bridging generations through Faith, Family and Fitness. I’m grateful and excited to see where our Lord guides us. Please pray for us as we embark on this new journey and ministry.
Where has God reunited you with loved ones and friends from the past with purpose?
How are you building the renewed relationship to serve our Lord?
