What is Retirement?

Today, I am not concerned about what the dictionary definition is of that word. I want to put “retirement” into my own words and link them to a lesson from Jesus I read today. I hope in doing so, perhaps you might take into consideration the words I type.

In the United States of America, retirement seems to be an idea that says “some day” I’ll do this or that.

This some day is generally linked to a pension, a 401k, Social Security draw, or the accumulation of “enough” money so one can then finally do all the things they have longed to do their entire life. Perhaps it’s a combination of all the above.

This life is generally filled to the brim with work, more work, and more work. All in an effort to not only own stuff, and more stuff…and more stuff, BUT also to accumulate significant levels of cash so that one can then begin to live freely and ride off into the sunset.

So my view of “retirement” as I have heard so many espouse it; working until a magical age, perhaps 65 or 70, then after accumulation of enough years for the pension or a 401k maturing, or selling that business, or beginning to draw Social Security, finally begin pursuing the life they REALLY want.

What does Jesus Say?

It hit me like a brick today as I read some of Jesus’ words in Luke 12. I’d like to share my thoughts with you about what I read.

The passage to which I refer in Luke, which is called the Parable of The Rich Fool, begins in verse 13 of Luke 12.

Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Influential this series of verses have been to me. It was this story that really opened my eyes to how I was living and how I needed to make some significant changes in my past way of thinking.

A Strong Desire to Get Closer to God

Ultimately I want my life to be one in which I live out exactly what the Lord put me here to do. Over the years, I let fear of loss drive most of my decisions. That fear of loss, and to a lesser degree of failure, drove me to live “safely”.

Stick with what I knew, that being…the flower business.

Yet, since 1995, I knew that in no uncertain terms, the flower business was NOT why I was put here. However, I kept pressing into the false belief under the idea that “some day” I would make it; just like my grandparents had made it.

I was wrong.

The critical component missing was the leap of faith required to fully embrace God’s call on my life.

I constantly looked past this leap, for example, that my grandparents took in 1941. Yes, they built a hell of a flower business and an estate (for a florist). However, that didn’t come easy and it all started with a huge leap of faith.

A Young Man and His Dream

At 18, my grandfather decided to leave the security of the family business in Flint, MI to move to Lansing and open his own retail flower shop. Almost no money to his name, other than a small savings earned from playing in a band for a short stint, along with a beat up old truck without a windshield (according to tales of old) he and my grandmother went for it taking a gigantic risk for someone only 18 years of age.

The rest is history. He lived a life of taking pretty significant risks and making good decisions from a business standpoint.

These risks brought blessing.

Interestingly, as his age ascended, his own fear of loss took hold and he began taking on the mindset many of us seem to; the mindset Jesus addresses in the story above.

Grandpa began “storing in barns” and stopped living in calculated risks, always worried about losing all he worked for (read money). Slowly, over time, decisions became based on what I like to call “potential for loss” instead of what used to be “potential for gain”.

Today, Jon Anthony Florist in downtown Lansing, Michigan is but a shell of it’s former self. With my grandparents gone and no one in place to carry the torch, the business has fallen apart and ultimately will close in a matter of a few years. It was my grandfathers fear of loss, along with my grandmothers fear of being tossed to the curb, a fear some of her children convinced her would become reality should I take ownership back then, which put them on the course leading them to where the business is at this moment in time. Pride and fear are a deadly combination.

The desire to accumulate drove out the desire to walk faithfully and this then led to the empire falling…so to speak.

Living Truly by Faith

For me, I needed to make a hard choice.

Having no such “retirement” plan on which to fall back or look forward to taking advantage of years later, not long ago, I opted to heed what I kept hearing God saying to me, but too afraid to lean into.

“Get out. Get out now. “

Alright Lord, but what am I to do?

“I’ll get to that later, you just take the steps to get out…and then I’ll show you the way further down the road.”

Ultimately, I had hoped through owning the flower shop in Kissimmee, perhaps maybe, by the time I hit my 60’s or 70’s I’d have enough stored up to make the end of my life financially comfortable.

However, like the Rich Fool in the story, I believed if I could only amass X number of dollars, I would be secure, safe, and feel less worry.

My faith had always been in the accumulation. And my measuring stick was always the bank account.

Interestingly, it always has fallen short.

I have never realized the level of financial blessing and success my grandparents had, nor the levels I see so many of my peers gaining.

It’s always just barely getting by.

But the catch here is that I never really took the leap in faith. I mean, the level at which I need for Rob.

I tried to convince myself that selling my florist shop in Flint (purchased after the deal to buy Jon Anthony Florist fell apart) and moving to Florida was that leap. It was not. Why? I remained in the flower business.

I was trying to force the flower business to fit the model of faith required to have things in a right order with my relationship to God.

Again, I knew since 1995 the flower business is not why I am here. (I might add, I still don’t know why I am here, but I do know it was not the flower business).

So here I am today, sitting in the Sonoran Desert, at the table of my small Winnebago Micro Minnie FLX 2108 DS waiting on the sun to come up, typing this post for you.

I made the decision last year I would finally listen. I would take God up on this and my desire to be in a right relationship with him took the front seat.

I had $45,000 or so saved up in the flower business and Joelle and I decided we would take that money, close the flower shop after Valentine’s Day 2023, buy a small RV, and begin traveling the country, doing photography, writing blog posts, and even maybe trying to build a youtube brand.

$45,000 is hardly much. But it was enough to allow us to live off the savings for about 2 years.

We thought we’d rent out our small house to cover our mortgage payment and let my daughter live there in her garage apartment to manage the property.

The decision had been made in my mind and heart. I believe the Lord knew I was all in on this after all these years.

I wanted to spend the rest of my life living in the “rich relationship with God” to which Jesus referred. Regardless of the money I will make.

The Fun Begins

It’s funny how, after making this decision and being fully sold and convinced in my heart and mind I would truly step out in faith, things would really begin to come together.

Shortly after making this decision to close up the shop after Valentine’s Day 2023 and take whatever profits from that, add it to the savings and head out into the wild west, I was having a talk with a close friend.

Charlie in essence said, “Hey man, don’t be stupid. Even if you sold the flower shop for, say, $10,000, that’s better than $0.”

Charlie proved to be yet another messenger in my life through which the Lord opted to send guidance. He was 100% on the mark.

Ultimately, while we didn’t sell the shop for what it was really “worth”, I did sell it for more than $0. The sale of the shop paid for our now RV home, our Winnebago Micro Minnie 2108DS FLX along with the Toyota Tundra with which we pull it, and left over a pretty significant amount in savings.

Following the close of the sale of the shop in February 2023, Joelle and I began talking about how excited we were to be getting closer to heading out full time. In our discussions we were still uncertain as to how to handle our home on Florida Ave in St Cloud.

Elise, my daughter, still was living there renting her apartment from us. We weren’t sure we wanted to rent the house out long term knowing the bad experiences so many people we knew who rented properties had over our lives knowing them.

We knew a realtor in town through the gym. I called him to seek his advice on the house. He wanted to come over to talk with us after doing a little research into the home.

We were utterly astounded at what we could list and then sell our house for. In 5 short years of ownership our home had doubled in value from over the price we paid.

This potential equity astounded me and so we, after some agonizing discussions emotionally, decided we would formally list the house.

6 short days after the listing went live, we received a full price offer and, well, the rest is history.

Final Thoughts on Blessing

I embrace Jesus’ words in Luke 12:31. In order for me, personally, to really latch onto these words of wisdom, I really needed to take extreme measures. That’s what we have done.

Jesus said, in his epic lesson on worry (with which I have struggled my entire life)

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.” Luke 12:31

I really need to believe that he will give us everything we need, one day at a time.

“And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things.” Luke 12:29

I wonder if today Jesus would say, in addition to the above words in 29 “..and what you will do when you get older, and how you will make ends meet in your 70s, and your Pension, and your Health Benefits, and your Social Security, and your Medicare, and your 401k….” and so on and so forth.

What went from starting out on this new road for me with little expendable cash turned into more money coming in than I could ever have imagined. As I said before, not millions in my case, but enough to give us a jump start into a new direction with some “change in my pocket”.

All, I believe, due to the fact that I chose to take God at his word, move in total faith, and told fear to “F” off.

Once a decision is made to go a certain direction and we truly fall back on and trust in the Lord to guide us, peace comes.

It’s been oddly calm in my mind and in my soul over all of this.

It certainly helps to have a bit of a cushion propping us up. Enough, actually, to fund or begin another business should we really want to do so.

For now, however, we are just getting started. March will mark the beginning point for our trek north leading us all the way through to early December.

Along the way, you can bet there is going to be a lot of footage, tons of photography, and significant thoughts revolving around all of it.

Today, what is your call?

How might you need to take a leap of faith?

These are questions we all should be considering.

Until next time

-rob out