"Under God's Umbrella"- Thoughts on Chapter 12- A Vision beyond Retirement

 The first paragraph of Chapter 12, page 72 speaks a bit about a vision for my retirement years.  I was recently helped with that vision when I attended this year's Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston, SC.  

The conference was opened by The Rev. Dr. Alistar McGrath with a presentation titled, "Longing for a More Beautiful Story: CS Lewis and the Gospel in Today's World."  Dr. McGrath is an Oxford theologian who caught my imagination back in my seminary days and he did so once again with this lecture.  Another amazing presenter in the same vein was Dr. Jerry Root of Wheaton College who stated that there are countless people living in brokenness, hopelessness and desperation who have not discovered that there is indeed a more beautiful story.  

To use the words of CS Lewis, McGrath, Root, and other speakers at this conference, I humbly acknowledge that, by the grace of God, I have discovered this the more beautiful story.  I mention in my autobiography that the Christian worldview is the only thing that finally made sense of this nonsensical world in which I was living ("Under God's Umbella,"page 40); therefore, my vision for my retirement years is tell about this "More Beautiful Story" as it has impacted my life whenever and everywhere I can.  

Dr. Root provided some wisdom about doing this.  We are people who care about other people and are naturally interested in hearing their stories.  It is in the context of someone else's story that we invariably are given the opportunity to share our own story.  

A prime focus in my current life has been to share this "More Beautiful Story" with my grandchildren, which is the reason I wrote my autobiography dedicated to them last year.  My prayer and deep heart's desire are that they discover their own "More Beautiful Story."