Follow Fully

 We change as we age. We become more cautious. Less willing to take risks. Our bodies become more frail. We tend to shy away from challenges we once embraced without giving it a second thought. Life settles into monotonous routines rather than thrilling adventures. We may follow God to a safe extent. Can we say we fully follow God in our old age. 

I can tell you about one fellow who did. He was a brave soul in his youth. He was drawn to adventure and following God in faith no matter the odds. This often made him unpopular with those around him. While they contemplated calculated risks with little chance of failure, he threw caution to the wind and simply fully followed wherever God directed him to do. No matter the impossibilities. It did not sit well with the cautious and cowardly. 

Years passed. In his twilight years, 85 to be exact, his vigor for adventure did not diminish one iota. He was not one to sit around in a rocking chair stuck in safe risk free routine. This guy still thought he could do the same things he did four decades earlier. Instead of looking to take it easy, he volunteered for challenging risky assignments younger men avoided. You may have heard of him. 

His name was Caleb. He and Joshua were the only two spies who challenged Israel to obey God in possessing the promised land. They got outvoted. Caleb had to suffer the consequences of living the boring life of wandering in a desert when he longed to be possessing the land. He had a different spirit about him. 

When Israel finally crossed the Jordan to start possessing the land Caleb had a request of Joshua who was dividing out portions of the land. He wanted to go to war to take the hill country. He said of himself, "I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me, as my strength was then so is my strength is now for war." [Joshua 14:11] War is a young man's challenge. Remember. Caleb had a different spirit about him. He did not give into old age the theory of retirement. He wanted a challenge. He needed a challenge. He still desired to go to war to possess what God had promised. He wanted the hill country. With fortified cities.

Any military person can tell you the most strategic position to defend any place is the high ground. It is a more difficult position to overtake. That is exactly the challenge Caleb asked for. 

That inspires me. I do not want to take it easy as I grow old. I want to embrace the challenges God puts before me. I want to give more of myself to following Him fully into the greatest adventures of my life no matter what my age. I want to believe God for more at 55 than I did when I was 25.

Here is the rub. Caleb did not even know if he would be successful. Listen to what he said, "perhaps the LORD will be with me and I will drive them out as the LORD has spoken." [Joshua 14:12] Perhaps. Perhaps God would help him and he would succeed. Perhaps God would allow him to fail and die in the quest. It was a land of giants and fortified cities. That did not deter Caleb. He wanted a challenge. He believed God could defy any challenge to the point of willingly risking his life. 

I don't see that attitude everywhere. People work hard into their retirement years and then want to coast into eternity. They work, scrimp, and save so they can take it easy. Travel, play, rest and enjoy the fruit of the years of their labor. Caleb did not adopt that attitude. He wanted to live and experience God. He needed a challenge. 

How many people retire and spend the rest of their lives in boredom because they do not have a challenge, a calling, nor a purpose. My conviction is that we retire to become full time available to God. I have seen this. I met a couple who are using their retirement years to do full time missions work on their own dime in Honduras. I've met men who travel the world to do disaster relief in their old age. I've also met men who travel the United States to help churches build new facilities. Their work is hard day after day, they live in RVs, eat pot luck meals, are away from their grandkids and kids, and yet love what they do. 

Don't you want to make the last years of your life count for the Lord? I know some are not capable of doing all they want to do because of failing health. For those of us who can, will we not fully follow God by faith into great adventures right to the very end of our days. That is my desire. To fully follow until God calls me home or my health no longer allows me to do so. I heard a man tell me numerous times, "I want to die with my face in the dirt and not my head on a pillow." I think Caleb had that attitude to fully follow with his face in the dirt on a battlefield rather than playing it safe. I thank God for Caleb and pray He would raise more Caleb's today to follow fully in great Kingdom adventures for the glory of God.