still on duty

Being grandpa is a pretty sweet gig. I get all the fun of small children without the hassles of parenting. When they’re sad, they run to grandma. When they want to play, they come to me.

I’m at that place where my life is pretty much what I want it to be, what I’ve been working towards for five decades. I have a plan that sees me into retirement and beyond. A lot of retirees from our neck of the woods go south; I don’t think that will be me.

Jacob didn’t plan on it either. Jacob may have been like me, with a life he liked and no desire for big changes. At 130 years of age, he likely thought he was set, until his long-lost son Joseph moved him south to Egypt. Lock, stock and barrel, as they used to say to mean everything.

Genesis 46:33 and following:  "’I am God, the God of your father,’ he said. ‘Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there….’  So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.”

Well into his second century, Jacob set out with an extended family of almost 90 people and made his last move. He moved from the place God sent him to another place God sent him. He started over completely, in a foreign place, because it was part of God’s plan.

The moral here sounds more like a warning to me. It seems I hear God saying, “Don’t get too comfortable, Greg. You’re here to serve, and you’re not worn out yet. Stay ready and keep working; I’ll let you know when you’re off duty.”