Spiritual column for Sept 26

Finding New Challenges in Retirement

In October 2001, Florida Today editor Tom Clifford asked me to write a spiritual response to the 9/11 tragedy. 

"That's easy," I told him. "I'll whip that right up."

NO, I did not say that.

I struggled and dug into my soul that week and was overwhelmingly humbled by the response. Two weeks later, Tom officially began publishing my weekly column he titled, "Spirituality in Everyday Life."

Within six months, national editors at Gannett liked my combination of humor and spirituality enough to syndicate it in over 50 papers, landing weekly on nearly a million kitchen tables.

During the past twenty-four years of writing, this column has survived the layoffs of hundreds of editors and staff writers. I've pushed fourteen years past the ten-year average of most columnists.

So, maybe it's time to retire. 

But how do you know when it's time to retire?

That question haunts a lot of professionals as they wonder just how much greater they can become.  

For a print columnist writing in the post-covid world of dwindling circulation, the answer comes a bit easier. Retire yesterday.

I say "yesterday" because, after COVID, many of my newspapers were unable to pay this columnist. Fortunately for us both, they accepted my offer to continue pro bono.

But pay has not influenced my desire to retire. That guidance comes from Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary Schmich who recently retired from the Chicago Tribune after 23 years. She advises fellow columnists to ask themselves, "Do I feel lucky to write a column this week?" 

Or do I often say, "I have to write a column this week, again."  

For the past few years, it's often been the latter. And, if I'm being honest, I've been rerunning several old columns, something I like to call, "Self-plagiarizing."

Still, I've learned a great deal from both critics and champions of this column.

Schmich says that "No matter what you write, there will be people who love it and people who hate it. Only the ratio changes."

My love/hate ratio has changed over recent years, especially as I endorsed vaccines and spoke against Christian Nationalism. 

But I do think I've followed Schmich's best advice: "Be careful not to pointlessly—I emphasize pointlessly—alienate the people who care about what you write."

And now my wife, Becky has only one question. "Is your retirement for real this time?"

She watched as I "retired" from the military but went to work for the VA hospital.

She engages the quotation marks as she recalls how I "retired" from hospital chaplaincy, only to go into hospice work.  

"Retired" from hospice and currently pastoring a church.

SO, I guess I'm not fully and completely "retired."

The cliché has some meaning, when I say "God ain't finished with me yet." 

I'll remain as pastor of my small church in the California foothills, even as attendance soars past 22 people. In some form, I'll continue to email both old and new writing to readers who've signed on. 

And of course, I'll redouble my efforts with Chispa Project.

For now, I have two favors to ask of you.

First, sign up to receive my weekly muse by sending me a quick email to comment@thechaplain.net. Or just sign yourself up at www.thechaplain.net/newsletter. Remember to spell chaplain correctly, not chaplin. We've talked about this.

Second, consider helping Chispa Project either by donating or volunteering for a trip in 2026 as they get ready for the next Honduran school year.  Find info at chispaproject.org.

See you next week as I return for my swan song.

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Be sure and order one of my books on Amazon. Autographed copies can be obtained on my website www.thechaplain.net or by sending a check for $20 for each book to 10566 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, CA 95602.