[TEAMspinella] Is this ministry or is it retirement?

Can you believe I turn 70 this year? I thought you might have forgotten since I haven't written an email update for over a year ;-).

People have lots of different views about senior years. For some reason these come to my attention. For instance, there is the three phase view--go go, go slow, and no go. I've been trying to go slow, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself?

Then there's the trope, "Retirement is never mentioned in the Bible." But also there's Numbers 8:25, "but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer." Apparently I'm somewhere in between those two.

When I was a young man, I wrote a long paper on Ecclesiastes (a master's thesis.) Now I seem to be drifting along somewhere between 12:1a and 12:5b.

If retirement is the freedom to choose when and how I work, then I must be retired. If it means I don't work anymore, I must not be there yet. If it means I get age-based social security, well, I've put that off as long as I can, and I certainly have medicare (and because I'm old, I use it!)

It's great to be old and still alive. After all, today is probably better than tomorrow.

Everything so far has been intended to be at least slightly funny. But don't worry, you're not the only one not laughing. Some people didn't even read this far, even the young ones.

NEWS

My best news is not about myself--we have two new grandchildren. Baby Wells, short for Maxwell Thomas Spinella, joined Joey & Laura, Cedar, and Corrie December 16. Then baby Anastasia Hope joined John and Sarah Forcey, Evangeline, Isaiah, and Elijah April 2. They are both quite small and still very attached to their mothers, but that means Grandpas and Grandmas get more time with the older kids (but never quite enough in the long term, even if it is sometimes almost too much in the short term!)

If you're wondering about Laura's mom Martha, she is now in a secure residential care facility nearby, and that has been a big change for all of us.

If you're wondering about our health, it's not perfect but we're in between disasters ;-).

And when it comes to go go, we have been to Hawaii, we are going to Ireland and Spain, and we still hope to do some RV excursions in the great Mountain West as well.

Thanks for reading, thanks for caring, and know that we still like to be remembered!

Steve and Laura

PS Ministry care can mean many things. Some of my favorites recently have been teaching Bible lessons in Sunday school, facilitating groups where people share deeply, coaching ministry workers, and loving little kids, especially grandkids. Maybe I'll write another email someday about one of those. For now, I'm just happy to write this to you. What about you? Anything on your heart you want to share with us?

Steve and Laura Spinella

US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<stevespinella@gmail.com> <

lauraspinella@gmail.com>

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