We are no strangers to hearing these words: “God will provide”. Yes, that is true: The Lord will provide and afford you the opportunities for you to make decisions that will impact your future.

'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.

Preparing for retirement is not hard, but it must be intentional. Advancing age is automatic. Good preparation for advancing age is not. There is the old adage, “When you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it.” Unfortunately, many of us don’t think of retirement as something to plan for unless we feel guilty for not saving or not saving enough.

We verbally fantasize about doing nothing. Our thoughts about retirement are the "big" deception and our dreams of retirement have neutered the opportunity of a lifetime.

Here is what our culture teaches about retirement: it is one homogeneous stage of life marked by physical and mental decline ending in death.

John Wesley said: "Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I will shake the world."

I remember hearing Tony Campello preach his now famous message entitled, "It's Friday and Sunday's Coming." He tells the story of a "preach-off" and being totally overwhelmed by the message about the challenges of Friday, and the anticipation of the answer coming on Sunday. I've thought of the significance and the meaning of this message often. Each year during Easter season is a likely time to examine the pains of Friday and sunrise of Sunday.

Purpose is often obscure and hard to describe. It is one of those things that we are able to identify once we see it, yet we often view it through a glass darkly. When our actions are lined up for our purpose, it’s like a hot knife through warm butter. When these two don’t align, it’s like looking for butter in a pig's pen.

Help I need to see me through the day
Help I need to give wisdom to my actions
Help I need to guide my steps
Help I need to love the unlovable

Life is complicated, most of the time. Technology is supposed to make it easier, better, and faster. However, I’m not so sure it does. When I look around my office at work and then my office at home, I’m convinced that the idea of the paperless office was invented by the paper companies to sell more paper. There is paper everywhere.

Longevity is driving our culture, productivity, and economy. Methuselah of Biblical times is the metaphor of embracing long life. Methuselah purportedly lived to the ripe old age of 969. There were, according to the Bible, at least 6 others who hit the 900 plus year-old age mark. Methuselah was Noah's grandfather, and according to some extra-biblical accounts, was at Noah's side trying to convince the rest of society that tough times were ahead.

When people, or even analysts, talk about retirement, they talk about it as being one homogeneous season of life.  A time of retreat and diminished capacity is the general characterization.

Longevity - how long we are living - reflects societal, medical, and cultural shifts over many generations. The fact that much of the world is living longer impacts how we think, how we act, and how we view the world. Let’s examine the phenomena of living longer in more depth.

How we feel about old age matters and is important. It is not only understanding what growing older means and how it plays out in your family and personal life but is also indicative of what you think about old age. When we understand how we feel and think about aging, it will impact what we do, our relationships, and even our health.

If you are 50 or over, you need to face it. If you are under 50, you need to face it. Face what exactly?When is the right time to think about where you will live during the various stages of retirement? When is the right time to investigate, understand, and discuss the role of a senior living community in the living equation? The answer is either soon or now!

Understanding the components of a worldview and then understanding your worldview is critical to living successfully in the world where you live. Our worldview connects us with the DNA of meaning. We each have a grid through which we view the world and our place in it. This view shapes our understanding of truth, beauty and reality and who we are in an accumulation of our exposure to life’s input.

The coach moves along leaving Jaipur and heading to Delhi. And yes, it is another world. On the one hand, we are all God’s creation sharing a common humanity. On the other hand, we are unique individuals impacted by DNA, culture and history. Size has something to do with it too. Within the next few years India will overtake China as the world’s largest country.