The Back Nine

It was the closest I ever came to my “big showbiz break,” as Rush Limbaugh called it. I got through to Kit Carson, EIB’s call screener (after about 50 tries!). It was my birthday, so I hoped it would be a good ploy to get online with Maha Rushie. I also said I’d like to ask him about a book he talked of writing called “The Back Nine.”

Screener Kit said they were jammed for the afternoon, but he’d call the next day. Alas, it was not to be since I never got the call-back, nor did Rush write the book.

Rush was a golfer and the “back nine” refers to the final of 18 holes. He said a time or two that he wanted to write about the “back nine” in life and what he’d learned as a “seasoned citizen.”

I told this story lately in our church and read a pessimistic account from Ecclesiastes 12, a poem about the infirmities of old age, including deficiencies of hearing, sight and mobility. One author suggested that Solomon was “clinically depressed” when he wrote Ecclesiastes! Perhaps so. But my point is that we seniors can do a number of good things, despite the infirmities of aging.

We can give our money. In fact, baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, own half of America’s wealth, some $80 trillion. I have no clue what a trillion is other than a million million, but the point is seniors, on the whole, have accumulated money and things. Rather than being misers or packrats, we can share with others in need. Our denomination, like others, has a ministry office that gives estate advice so we can give to God’s work even after death.

We can give our time. Seniors understand the ebb and flow of time more effectively than the young. We look back at lost opportunities, perhaps with our own children, and see more clearly how we can spend time with others and encourage them. And we can volunteer at the hospital, the library, the nursing home, the food bank or at church. Seniors can pour their lives into others.

We can grow spiritually. Every living thing grows, and this is true spiritually. If we stop growing, we atrophy. What wonderful resources we have today to grow with Christian radio, podcasts, Internet courses and retreats.

And we can prepare to meet God. Seniors understand that our bodies aren’t designed to last forever, and one day they’ll return to dust, and we’ll go to meet God. The God who gave us life will judge us according to our kingdom faithfulness.

Rush encouraged me to think about the back nine. I hope you do, too. -30-

“Reflections” is a weekly faith column written by Michael J. Brooks, pastor of the Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama. The church’s website is siluriabaptist.com.