FReeper Canteen ~ Sunday Chapel ~ REFLECTIONS ON GROWING OLD(ER) ~ 22 October 2023

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

 

REFLECTIONS ON GROWING OLD(ER)

Someone once said that we are now living in the age of age. In fact, there are more old people alive today than at any time in history. There are, today, more people over 65 in the United States than the entire population of Canada. Faced with these figures, and faced with the fact that you will someday be, if you are not already, in the category of the aged, the old, or the elderly, how do you, or will you, look upon the final chapter of your book of life?

Some look at age philosophically, like Jack Benny, who said: "Age is a matter of mind; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter." Some look at age sarcastically, like the wisecracker who said: "You know you are getting old when the gleam in your eye is from the sun hitting your bifocals." Or, as Bob Hope said on his 80th birthday: "You know you're old when the candles cost more than the cake." Some view age evasively, like the elderly couple in California who were stopped for speeding and when asked where they were going in such a hurry, replied, "We're escaping from Leisure World." Some look at age shrewdly, like Agatha Christie, who quipped that she married an archaeologist so that the older she became, the more he would appreciate her.

But what about scripturally? In the Book of Genesis, Abraham made a comment about his advanced years and how his faith was strong even at 99 years of age. St. Paul even once wrote of Abraham that, "He (Abraham) did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old . . ." While his body weakened, his soul grew stronger. St. Paul wrote: " ... he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God." (Romans 4:20)

Abraham didn't need any White House Conference on Aging to figure out how to handle the afternoon of his life. His senior years were the "Sabbath" of his soul, not to rest but to refresh. They were the garnering years, alive with rich possibilities for self-realization, a time of harvest, abundant and manifold. With the patriarch as a paradigm, St. Paul intimates that age is a time of spiritual enrichment, of growing close to God. The aging saint has no time for regrets. Age is the country he's always wanted to reach. The saints go marching in! It's the land of freedom: freedom from the striving of making a living, freedom from the strains of child-raising, freedom from the real, or imaginary, necessities of social acceptance, freedom from defining one's own status by occupation, income, and social approval, freedom to live where you want, do what you want, go where you want; and yes, freedom at last, to wear shoes for comfort instead of for style. Age, a la Abraham, is a time to sift for nuggets of meaning, to make psychic gains, and experience spiritual satisfaction, to add life to years, not just years to life. To try to link faith and age in any other non-productive way is to have as a motto: "In God We Rust."

LCDR Jeffrey Nordhaus, CHC, USN

 

[Kathy in Alaska]

Please join us for Sunday Chapel ~ REFLECTIONS ON GROWING OLD(ER), and Liberty

Lt. Charles F. Suver, CHC, USN, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division
"Mass at Iwo Jima"

Please stop in and say a prayer of protection for the military.
Prayers from all denominations are needed.



Sunday Liberty starts after the Guest Military Chaplain's Service!

Click here for the latest weather, wind and radar.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Dear God:
I ask that no Airman, Coast Guardsman,
Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Reservist, National Guardsman, or Merchant Marine
feel alone or forgotten.

O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is loving kindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

Psalm 130:7 & 8

[neverevergiveup]

I personally prefer to live my life pushing every minute as much as I can, hoping that instead of ‘winding down’ I will just cease at some point. I know that’s maybe shallow, but for so many reasons I don’t really feel that I’ve lived yet. I will keep trying to live, until God takes me.

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

THANK YOU
for your service!

[Golden Eagle]

Yesterday - The Beatles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrgmdOz227I

Where Have All the Good Times Gone - Van Halen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0akdECguSVs&list=RD0akdECguSVs&start_radio=1

[mountainlion]

My get up and go got up and went.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, nevergiveup, and a Blessed Lord’s to you and yours.

Living life to the fullest sure beats curling up in a ball and giving up.

Enjoy your living.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hello Veterans, wherever you are!!

A Blessed Lord's Day and Shavua Tov to you.

[Taxman]

ping

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu, and a Blessed Lord’s Day to you and yours.

Hope you had a good day at the museum and are resting your feetsies.

[SkyDancer]

~ Evening Kathy! ~

~

~ Welcome To My World ~

I’m Down There Somewhere

[ExTexasRedhead]

Emotional Return To Vietnam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwm0UEGQWjE

Coming Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUNjH7eJPfs

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, mountainlion, and a Blessed Lord's Day to you and yours.

My get up and go got up and went.

I have those days as well.

Do you have all your stove wood in and ready for the winter?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Shavua Tov.
Wishing all our Jewish troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
a peaceful and prosperous week.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Prayers for our troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
for a safe and peaceful week ahead.

[Kathy in Alaska]

He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our G-d from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.

May HASHEM cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor.

May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your G-d, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.

G-d bless and keep your children safe, Alouette.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Golden Eagle, and a Blessed Lord’s Day to you and yours.

Thanks for the tunes.

[Kathy in Alaska]

God Bless our military men and women who have given their all.

Thanks, unique.

[Golden Eagle]

Thank you, kind lady, for the wonderful thread and beautiful thoughts.