iRetire4Him Show 138: Shifting Gears, Not Goals

Jim Brangenberg: You've tuned into iRetire4Him, a podcast dedicated to Christ followers all over the country, seeking purpose in their retirement years. I'm Jim Brangrnberg, your host for today. The facts are clear. Most Christians plan on retiring and they do not know what they're retiring to. They always know what they're retiring from, but they don't know what they're retiring to do.

Your retirement years could be 30 years of purpose driven, fully funded ministry, years of making impact in ways and places you never imagined. But you gotta think about it. Check us out online at iRetire4Him.com. We've talked a ton on iRetire4Him about the fact that retirement isn't biblical, so we won't waste any more breath on that.

But wait, there's still about 40 million retired believers who think that retirement is biblical and they're desperately in search of meaning and purpose in their retirement years. Jeff Wilson joins us today. Jeff has served on our iWork4Him board of directors for many years, and just moved out of the chairman position in March.

Jeff quote unquote retired from his day job about a year ago, but has been searching for a new job that will be [00:01:00] fun, enjoyable, bring meaning and purpose without all the nonsense and stress of his former position. Doesn't that sound amazing? The journey hasn't been easy, but Jeff Wilson is here to share a little of his journey with all of us.

Jeff Wilson, welcome back to iRetire4Him. So how long have you been retired? Do I have it right? Is it almost a year already?

Jeff Wilson: It's a little over. It was July 30th of 23.

Jim Brangenberg: Wow. It really went fast for me. All right, so how has God been using you so far during your retirement?

Jeff Wilson: Yeah, primarily I have time to take care of the kids - the grandkids, take care of the grandkids. Five ranging in age from six months, just the other day to ninth grade. But anyway, it's just so much fun to watch them. Choir concerts, there's band concerts. Those are fun. And then all the sports that they're involved in. So it's a lot of fun to tag along with them and be there for 'em.

Jim Brangenberg: So you've taken this last little over a year and a half [00:02:00] resting, recouping from a pretty stressful last job, as I remember you talking about it. Are you ready for a new adventure?

Jeff Wilson: Think I am. I needed some time to heal. I had an injury from work and it's taken quite a bit of time to take care of. That is better. But I think I'm going to start driving for a transit company, a bus that's I don't know how many capacity, I'm just in the initial stages of it but a smaller bus, probably a Ford van.

I was school bus driver 40 plus years ago, back when the buses were manual transmissions and no air brakes and no air conditioning back then. So was that something I enjoyed back then and I'm thinking I could do that again now and it'd be fun.

I think I probably am tapping into some of my recent experience. One of the duties that I had was covering for my route drivers and taking over when they had vacation or sick time. So I had lots of time in [00:03:00] various vehicles to take over for them.

Jim Brangenberg: What are some of the things you did after you quote unquote retired to get refreshed so that you're ready for God's next adventure for you?

Jeff Wilson: The primary thing that I did was to get involved at church and run a house group, which is a small group Bible study. And I am the leader of that. So I research that, prepare, and then conduct that study. We meet a couple of times a month. So not real high pressure, but it's some way that I can contribute back.

Jim Brangenberg: I noticed that you didn't say that part of your refreshing process was being the chairman of iWork4Him. So are you saying that I'm high stress? Is that what you're saying?

Jeff Wilson: I didn't say that.

Jim Brangenberg: Okay. All right. So what have you learned about yourself? Who God created you to be so far in your retirement?

Jeff Wilson: So far in my retirement, I have found that I am a servant. I enjoy doing things for other people. And that's the role that I'm taking on as I visit you here in Missouri. And [00:04:00] just to be a servant to your parents in their time of need.

Jim Brangenberg: Oh, so Jeff just dropped the big bomb. Big bomb. Jeff is my brother-in-law. Jeff has known me since I was 11. Can you imagine how painful that was for him when he started dating my sister? I'm not sure it's gotten any better for him in almost 50 years. It's only 48 years really, but it still probably seems like 50 to him.

All right, just a reminder for everybody. iWork4Him, the parent company of iRetire4Him, celebrating 12 years right now. 12 years of being on the air, over almost 3000 podcasts under multiple different names. So now through the end of the month, you'll have a chance to win a copy of the iRetire4Him Book by just subscribing to the iRetire4Him YouTube channel.

So here's how to enter the giveaway. Go to iRetire4Him. That's I retire. The number 4 him YouTube channel. So I retire4him, the number 4, him. Click on that in YouTube. Click on the subscribe button, then email me. [00:05:00] Jim@iWork4Him.com. That's I work the number 4 him.com with your username so that I know that you've done the subscribing thing. And then you'll get entered into a contest to get a free book and we'll autograph it and send it out to you. And you know that's not cheap anymore 'cause the post office cost you a billion dollars to send a book. But we're happy to send you a book if you subscribe to the YouTube channel.

Just look for that subscribe button on the YouTube page for iRetire4Him, click the small circle at the top right to view your username and make sure you send that to us. That's all there is to it. Be one of three lucky winners to get a copy, a free copy of iRetire4Him: Unlock God's Purpose for Your Retirement. I can't wait to see you all over the YouTube channel.

Alright, so in a month or so, Jeff, you're going back to work an entirely new job that you haven't had, well, in 40 years. Why are you going back to work?

Jeff Wilson: Just to have some purpose in my life. I really enjoy people, meeting people, serving people, just to be in, in fellowship with [00:06:00] people and then I can have my positive influence on them as opposed to whatever's going on in their life.

Jim Brangenberg: But by going back to work, you're giving up a little bit of your freedom. Does that freak you out at all?

Jeff Wilson: No. No. I've had plenty of freedom. I don't, I'm only going back part-time, so I'll still have plenty of freedom. Plenty of time.

Jim Brangenberg: Yep. So you said 20 or 30 hours a week, that still leaves you between 138 and 148 hours just for yourself. And to serve my high maintenance sister.

Alright, so I know you in your career- this is my perspective -you loved working for a body parts manufacturer, where they made parts for replacement knees and arms and legs and heads, whatever. You loved being a service writer at a Mercedes dealership. You did that for so many years and you had so much fun meeting all the customers. When you went, when you were looking for work, did you go back into either of those places to look for work or did you go all the way back to college and say, I really liked driving a bus then?

Jeff Wilson: Nah, I've been there. Did that. And don't care to do it again.

Jim Brangenberg: You're not gonna drive a school bus?

Jeff Wilson: No. But some of the [00:07:00] stops might be to daycare or to school. I just don't know yet. It depends on what the customer needs and that's what we give 'em.

Jim Brangenberg: So you're gonna be driving around, which gives you lots of opportunities to talk with people. What do you see as your primary purpose of the job? Besides getting 'em from A to B safely.

Jeff Wilson: Just to be that positive influence that they can count on.

Jim Brangenberg: That's fantastic. I love that. And it's likely, 'cause you're gonna be driving around the Minneapolis area, I'm sure there'll be days where there'll be some traffic, maybe a little snow to plow through. That'd be fun. I remember you used to like to drift bust. Do you think you'd be doing a drift busting? No, probably not. Okay. Alright. Do you think back in Gaylord, Minnesota on 10th Street where the snow drifts were very tall and - we both liked it, drift busting.

All right. Do you think everyone, so you've got a lot of friends that are retiring now. Do you think everyone understands the bleakness and purposelessness of retirement, or do you think people are starting to get the idea that, hey, my retirement could be better?

Jeff Wilson: I think there's a generation thing going on. I do [00:08:00] believe firmly that in my age, I'm 65 now, or almost in July, I'll be 65. There's friends that I have are all doing things with their faith walk whether it be repair cars or rebuild cars to taking care of family. It's just a lot of purposeful people that are using their free time to take care of other people.

Jim Brangenberg: I know for my parents, your in-laws, and for your parents when they retired, I mean your parents were involved in, or your dad was involved in the choir. He loved singing in that big community choir in Minneapolis. Do you think that our parents have experienced all there was to truly experience in retirement? Or do you think they missed out on some things?

Jeff Wilson: I know my dad was very involved in maintenance and projects at church. He built altar pieces for the church that they were involved in. They built all kinds of different things - communion rails, kneeling [00:09:00] pads. There were just a ton of things that he did - remodeling, very involved. My mom was involved with the food shelf that the church had. So they really - and the prayer team, yeah. And they were very involved in the church. I think it's different for some other people with my age parents. But that was the role model that I had.

Jim Brangenberg: I always feel like my parents missed out on some things. My mom went and went back and got her master's degree in retirement. And spent the next 20 years doing Christian counseling, which I think that was fantastic for her. But my dad played golf for 25 years.

I'm not sure that his handicap ever really improved, but I'm not sure that he ever really found a lot of purpose in it. There's nothing wrong with playing golf. But I think you miss out when that's your main goal. All right. So you've heard us talk about, iRetire4Him for years. Martha's dad, who you were good friends with, talked about this for years. And he just went to be with the Lord a couple years ago. Do you think retired Christ followers are ready to embrace [00:10:00] iRetire4Him instead of being on vacation?

Jeff Wilson: I would like to say that some are, many are not.

Jim Brangenberg: Many are Called, fewer chosen, but all of you are called to retire for him, and there's no such thing as biblical retirement unless you're a Levitical priest, and even they were called to then do mentoring after they stopped operating as a Levite.

Hey, just wanna remind you, go out to our YouTube channel and search for I retire the number 4 him and subscribe to our YouTube channel and get a chance to win an iRetire4Him book signed by myself, and we would love to get that out to you. I was gonna say it's signed by Martha's dad, but that's not possible anymore.

But Martha can sign her dad's name, but I don't know if that's the same. Alright, so then just make sure you email me, Jim @ iWork4Him.com to let me know that you've done that with your username on YouTube.

Alright, Jeff, for those listening who are preparing for retirement, they're not there yet, but they're like you going, I think I'm done with this nonsense I'm dealing with every day, 'cause I think you got [00:11:00] really tired of the nonsense at your last job. What kind of encouragement do you have for those people contemplating retirement?

Jeff Wilson: I think it's super important to get involved in your church one way or the other, whether it's to help sweep floors, whether it's to help with purchasing, whether it's to help leading a small group, but get in involved with your local church and tell them that you are ready. I've got some free time. I'm willing to plug in, and here I am. Give me a call.

Jim Brangenberg: And I would add your community. We live right here in Missouri in a community of a couple thousand people. Today is community cleanup day where you can bring any of your junk and shove it in a dumpster and no questions asked.

There's not enough people volunteering today and literally we filled nine dumpsters, nine 40 yard dumpsters, which by the way, that's a lot of garbage. That's a lot of stuff. That's a lot of garbage. But we need more help. In your community, in your neighborhood, are there some people that could use your help?

Yes, you could volunteer at your church, but part of your church is also go out to your - do your neighbors need some help? I ran into a lady today, she's [00:12:00] a widow taking care of her grandchild, and she desperately needed a lot more help than I could give her today in just an hour. Look for those people in your neighborhood.

Jeff, any final words of encouragement for our listeners today?

Jeff Wilson: Just seek and God will provide for you on what to do.

Jim Brangenberg: Many are called and all of you are chosen. You listen to iRetire4Him with your host, Jim Brangrnberg. Thanks for tuning in today. Just remember, our ultimate goal for all of this is to be able to say, when we get to the end of the road of our job, our work life is to say, iRetire4Him.