I have been retired now for several years. Let me rephrase that … I retired several years ago. Now, the reason I rephrased that is because I no longer really consider myself retired. You see, a fair piece ago God reminded me that MORGAN WYNN PUBLISHING is His company, and I hadn’t conferred with Him when I decided to put MORGAN WYNN in mothballs. As a result, my wife and I are working somewhat diligently in promoting most aspects of MORGAN WYNN – – Publishing, Ghost Writing, and doing Seminars! So, maybe someday (but I don’t think so!) I may re-retire!

“Well, Floyder,” you may be thinking, “why the smash do you think that you won’t retire again?” The answer may really surprise you: You see, nowhere in the BIBLE does it talk about retiring! In fact, quite the opposite is true, for we find in Genesis 3:19 that it says: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” What God told man is, basically, “you will earn your bread by the sweat of your brown all the days of your life.” You see – – Retirement is not a God-thing, it is a man-thing!

“Now wait a minute, Floyder,” you might be thinking, “I worked hard all my life, invested well, and now I am to the point where I can take it easy and enjoy the fruits of my labor. You mean to tell me I gotta go back to the daily grind and stay there until I die?”

I admit it may look that way, but that’s not what I am saying! If God has Blessed you to the point that you can live comfortably from your investments you should do so. BUT, and this is vitally important, you should never stop using the Gifts & Talents that God provided you with to promote the Kingdom of God! “What, exactly,” you may ask, “does that look like?”

Now I realize that that the answer to that question is probably going to vary depending on what your Gifts & Talents are. Let me first share with you how I am approaching this, and then I’ll give you a list of things you may able to do, based on what your Gifts & Talents.

Let me start by telling you that my Spiritual Gifts are Teaching and Exhortation, and my Talents revolve around Writing and Publishing.

As a result of the former, I continue to teach an Adult Sunday School class at my church. I also created, and participate in, the PHOENIX PHILOSOPHICAL PHAN PHORUM. This consists of a number of friends who get together regularly (roughly twice a month) and discuss a truly eclectic number of topics. Inasmuch as the vast majority of my friends are people of God, invariably our discussions revolve around passages of Scripture and Godly principals.

Now, while you may view this as little more than a coffee klatch, in reality it is a time spent in encouraging and mentoring each other. It provides an opportunity for one on one and/or micro-group fellowship, where relationships and friendships deepen and participants are able to discuss things near and dear to the heart, and get Godly advice, without having to pay $300 an hour!

In regard to my Talents, as I assist people in publishing their books I am again filling the role of Mentor. For the most part, publishing is still shrouded in a mystique that befuddles the general public, and can make them vulnerable to unscrupulous publishers who are far more interested in making increased profits than truly meeting the needs of their authors. I fully recognize the fact that God resurrected MORGAN WYNN PUBLISHING because He still has a number of people that Chris and I need to assist in realizing their dream of being a published author.

In the realm of being a Writer, a year or so ago God had Chris and me begin GOD’S GOOD NEWS GAZETTE, our On-Line Christian Magazine. I produce six columns in each issue where I either enlighten, entertain, or mentor readers. Supple-mentary to this I write a number of Blogs, where readers are, again, either enlightened, entertained, or mentored. Also, from the pages of GOD’S GOOD NEWS GAZETTE several books have been, and/or are being, created … including but not limited to WHEN IT COMES TO SCIENCE THE BIBLE WAS MILENNIA AHEAD and THE POWER OF THE TONGUE!

Now, as you can see, my talents mandated that I “come out of retirement,” and again put on the yoke of Writer/Publisher. Such may not be the case for others, however, as the Gifts & Talents they possess may not be directly related to the careers they retired from. With that thought in mind, below are a number of activities that one can involve themselves in where they will be working to further the Kingdom of God:

• Volunteer at Church: Administrative Staff; Maintenance Staff; Various Outreach Programs.
• Mentor: Financial Issues; Parenting Issues; Preparing for the Business World; Adapting to the “Tech” World.
• Aiding the Homeless: Passing out Water, Food, Clothes, Personal Hygiene Products.
• Aiding Foster Children: (Please see “Mentor”)
• Using Construction Skills: a la Habitat for
• Humanity; Go on Mission/Humanity Trips to poor regions/countries.
• Aiding Senior Citizens: Providing Meals, Transportation, Companionship.
• General Volunteer Work: Read to the Blind; Visit People in the Hospital; Work in a school at a multitude of levels.

As you can see, there are a number of ways that we can “Labor for the Kingdom,” and none of them include spending all of our on a beach sipping ice tea! As you can see, the GOOD NEWS is that regardless of your Gifts & Talents there is something you can do “all the days of your life.”