87 YEARS AND COUNTING

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I have personally never met anyone who has retired three times, nor anyone who has a total of almost 90 years between the three positions... til yours truly.

Three retirements and 87 years to be exact

I can almost read your thoughts.

 “I’m sorry, I’m not believing anyone other than Methuselah or one of those actors on the "Twilight" series would be capable of racking up three retirements and almost 90 years total; once he had reached the age in which people normally fill out their first application.”

(and)

"You don't look 127."

 

I expect my 4x great grandfather came as close any anyone I know to making it happen. His is, to say the least, a compelling tale.

 

Old Isom Peacock was an anti-temperance Primitive Baptist minister. He founded the first Protestant church in the State of Florida; which still boasts an active congregation today. It has been said that as Isom stood behind the pulpit, he sometimes pulled out a bottle of whiskey, would “chug a lug,” and sermonize about his freedom in Christ.

 

Well, my friends, I don’t know if the whiskey finally got him, or his mode of transportation. For you see, Rev. Peacock died at the grand old age of 108; falling off a horse! It might be rightly supposed that he died “drinking and riding.”

 

But to return to my previous claim

You see, I served 35 years in the military, mostly reserve duty, during which time I drove a UPS truck for 20 years during which time I began my pastoral counseling ministry of 32 years; for a grand total of 87 years.

Obviously, my foregoing vocations have generally overlapped, and were mostly concurrent, and more often, than not, I was simultaneously involved in the pursuit of all these professions.

Simple mathematics. But in the scheme of things, anything but simple dynamics.

by Bill McDonald, PhD