May 19, 2025 • 14 mins
Strategies For Navigating Marriage Through The Seasoned Years Of Life
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Starcares, a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
the public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In marriage, the early years can be difficult as we
learn how to live together and manage roles and expectations
of being husband and wife. Not to mention if we're
starting a family. Challenges sometimes don't just end after ten,
twenty or thirty years, but they do change. You're different,
your spouse is different, and so is your marriage. How
(00:34):
can Christian couples find joy and purpose as they face
the blessings and the trials that come along with the
latter part of life? Let's talk about it. My guest
today is Pastor Larry E. McCall. Pastor Larry, thank you
so much for joining me today and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, thank you, Michael, it's good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So you've written a resource entitled a Seasoned Marriage? What
motivated your writing?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
A few years ago I was asked to speak at
a conference for grand and the host pastor said, Larry,
would you and your wife Glad income a day early
and teach older couples on marriage principles and that's feason
of life. And I responded, I've never done that before,
but I'd be glad to And so on the way
home from that, I said to my wife, you know what,
(01:17):
there's almost no books out there on marriage in the
latter half of life. This could be a book. And
so we started working on it. And you know what,
we've enjoyed the process. We're older, we've been married. It'll
be fifty years next month.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Knowing God's grace through our own marriage. We're glad to
help others see the same kind of grace for their marriages.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Absolutely. What do you believe are some of the common
misconceptions about marriage in the later years.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Michael, I think younger couples assume either one of two things. Interestingly,
I think they're polar. I think young couples maybe know
a sweet older couple, maybe their grandparents or whatever, and
they think, oh, they're so sweet, everything must be easy
and nice and or older years. But on the other
polar extreme would be assumptions that marriage has to be
(02:05):
dull and boring in your older years. So I think
it depends on the person you're talking to. I think
there's a pretty wide spectrum on how people see the
older years of marriage until they get there.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, what are some of the challenges that couples may
face later in marriage as life changes.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yes, I think we got married young. My wife was
not quite twenty and I had just turned twenty one.
But we promised on our wedding day and sickness and
in health till death do his part. But I think
it was more sentimental than realistically embracing and understanding those
challenges that would come later in life. But some real
common ones, Michael, I think that empty nest is probably
(02:44):
one of the first big ones a lot of couples
face in marriage. How are we going to handle life
when the kids move out? And then right on the
heels of that is how we're supposed to relate to
adult kids. That's another one that we hear a lot
when we speak on these issues. A lot of people
in their latter half of life say, you know, we've
got challenges with our not just our grandkids, our kids
(03:06):
now we're supposed to relate to them. And then there's
things like retirement and failing health. Those are pretty common
issues depending on where you are on your journey young
couples don't normally anticipate those with any sort of deep understanding.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
How does marriage change once a couple enters into the
empty nest stage.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Especially couples that have raised children. I think a lot
of them have poured so much of their time and
energy into their kids, and understandably so, but sadly they've
neglected nurturing their marriage. And then one day they realize
we're the only two people living in this house, and
they look at each other and kind of ask, no,
who are you? And the relationship has just grown rather distant.
(03:46):
They need to regroup, they need to refocus on their
marriage and rebuild. But you know, sadly, Michael, there are
statistics out there of an increase in couples getting divorced
staff during twenty five years of marriage or more. And
this even as the name, it's called grat divorce, And
I think a lot of that is just they have
not anticipated the empty nest years, and they've neglected nurturing
(04:09):
their marriage. There is hope and help in the gospel.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Once kids have left the house, and then you talked
about retirement, and retirement comes, it can be easy to
fall into what marital monotony what can couples do to
avoid that trap?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Pastor larry marital monotony? Marriage can get this kind of
distant and dry. And as older couples, and when I
say older, I just mean that last half of life.
Even if you're in your late forties, you've probably crossed
the halfway point. And marriage does not have to be
boring and it does not have to be monotonous. But it
(04:45):
does take intentionality that couples, you know, are humble before
the Lord saying Lord, we want some help. We want
our marriage to be sweet and joyful, open communication with
each other, talking about it, a commitment to contribute to
the joy in the marriage and not just waiting for
the spouse to make it a happy marriage. But what
(05:05):
can I do to bring joy to my spouse? It
can be joyful. My wife and I enjoy each other.
We enjoy the season of life so.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
After caring for our children, and when that period comes
to an end, I mean some parents are like, oh no,
the kids are leaving. Other parents are like, who hooo?
You know, the empty nothing we can get to, you know,
do whatever we want however we want, whenever we want,
and just when we think that we're able to do that,
sometimes there comes a period of now caring for aging parents.
(05:34):
What advice you offer for balancing the challenges of honoring
parents while still trying to maintain a healthy marriage.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
You know, Michael, I've told other people that when you
read that commandment and the ten commandment to honor your
father and mother, if you ever noticed, it doesn't have
an age limit. God didn't throw that one in for
the kids. That's for all of life. Today is the
anniversary of the death of our last parent, my mother
in law. In their latter six months, we cared for
(06:03):
her along with my wife's siblings and their spouses, and
we loved her immensely. But it does take a commitment.
It takes time, energy, sometimes money. If your aging parent
doesn't live near you, it could be even separationis that's
been a wife for a while, as the caretaker has
to go stay with mom or dad, leaving the other
(06:25):
spouse at home for a season, and that can be challenging.
But what I care about is not only caring for
the elderly parent, but not neglecting the marriage in the process.
You know, let's be canned, and probably seventy five percent
of the caretakers in these situations are the women. It's
either the daughter or the daughter in law. And what
I've seen on occasion are men that just are oblivious.
(06:48):
The stress is on the wife. She's caring for the
aging parent. And so I'm speaking especially to my fellow men. Men,
let's not go passive. Let's not be oblivious to all
the sacrifices our wife is making and caring for the
elderly parent. But help, you know, and you might not
help the same way as your wife's helping, but look
for ways to help. If you don't see, ah, how
(07:10):
can I help? It might be using your own gifts
to help, or using your time or driving to appointments
you know, or whatever, or even just caring for the
home in a way that your wife doesn't return and
it's a chaos. It can give stress on the marriage,
but it can be a time, by God's grace, of
uniting a husband and wife as they share that mission
(07:31):
of lovingly, sacrificially caring for the aging parent.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Pastor Laria, you right about the importance of viewing marriage
through the lens of the gospel. How can couples practically
apply this perspective in our daily lives and how does
the Gospel shape in sweetened marriages?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Michael, That is one of my favorite topics to discuss.
We were probably twenty years into our marriage and we
just hit a low point and there hadn't been any unfaithfulness,
nobody threatened to vorce. Our marriage just wasn't fun anymore.
And just a quick story about that time, we met
an older gentleman. He was probably about eighty years old
at the time, and his wife was in the latter
(08:10):
stages of Alzheimer, and every day he would go to
the nursing home and he would help the staff change
her diaper, sponge, bath, spoon, feeder, and then he would
sing love songs to her. And he didn't do that once.
He did it day after day after day after day.
And I remember, as a frustrated forty something year old husband, thinking,
(08:31):
how does that work? Where does this man get the
love for his wife that way when she's not doing
anything for him. And about that time, as we were
struggling in our marriage and meeting this older gentleman, the
Holy Spirit brought to my mind first John four nineteen.
We loved because he first loved us. And it dawned
on me by the Spirit's kindness. That this man loved
(08:53):
his wife not because of what she was doing for him,
but because of what Christ had done for him. So
so he was going vertical in saying, to quote the
old Gaither song, here's my cup, Lord, fill it up, Lord.
And the Lord was filling up his cup with Christ's love,
and it was full and overflowing, and he had more
than enough love to give to his wife. That's grace.
(09:15):
That's the gospel. And so you can take that same pattern, Michael,
and you can apply it in so many ways. Why
should I forgive my wife or if she offends me,
not because she's worthy of forgiveness. She might be, but
not because of that, but because Christ has forgiven me.
Why should I be patient with my spouse? Because Christ
is patient with me? And the Gospel gives power, and
it's at the pattern for how we live as husband
(09:37):
and wife. We live for the glory of Christ and
the power of Christ, and reflecting Christ. I say it
this way, Michael, to reflect the greatest love story ever,
the love that Christ has for his bride. That's what
Paul says in Ephisians five point thirty two. It's a
glorious mission to share his husband.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And wife leaving a legacy of faith? What does it
mean to be intentional about leaving a legacy of faith
for your children, for your grandchildren and the generations that follow.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
It takes contentionality and God's grace, obviously, but to be
intentional in pouring into the coming generations the grace that
we've received, and to pour it in not only through
our words, but by the way we live, by our
relationships and involvement. Just a couple of weeks ago, I
sat on our back deck with one of our fifteen
year old granddaughters. She was telling my wife and me,
(10:27):
she said, I am so thankful for you as grandparents
because you pour into us spiritually, and I don't hear
my friends saying that their grandparents are pouring into them.
And it encouraged me that she realized what we're trying
to do by God's grace, but it also made me
sad that so many of her teenage peers are not
getting that. And so my wife and I are kind
(10:50):
of on a mission not only to live that way,
but help other grandparents see that grandparenting and even parenting
adult children is a mission, a ministry that we have
the opportunity. It hasn't Psalm seventy eight that we should
be telling the coming generations about the mighty works of God.
And then in verse seven it says so that they
(11:10):
should set their hope in God, and so to be
thinking when way together, how can I point them to
Christ through my words, through my teaching, through my example.
And we can still talk about other issues, obviously, but
that becomes part of how we live.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
How can we be fruitful in retirement? What are some
of the ways that couples can serve together in their
seasoned years.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I heard someone else say one time that if you're retiring,
don't just think about what you're retiring from, think what
you're retiring too. And that's a wonderful piece of counsel.
I think too many people get the retirement years and
they think, now it's me time. I've given so much
time to my job, my family, my relationships. It's me
(11:54):
time now. But after a while, you know, there's only
so much shopping you can do, there's only so many
golf games you can play, and there's only so much
TV you can watch, and you realize this isn't purposeful.
But in our older years, we can look for ways
to be fruitful, and it depends on the spiritual gifts
God's given, It depends on opportunities the needs around you.
But to have your eyes open and to be including
(12:16):
in your regular prayers, Lord, use me, use us for
your glory. Who would you like us to be serving
and using the gifts and opportunities He's given you to
pour into other people? And it could start with your
own family. How could I use my increased available time
to pour into my kids and grandkids or even great grandkids.
Or how would you like us to serve in the
local church that maybe we're not doing currently that we
(12:38):
could add to the life of the church through our
gifts or time or money. Just look for ways to
be fruitful, to be purposeful missional in our retirement years,
and not just be self centered.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
It's me time encourage someone who thinks that because they're
getting older, their impact wouldn't really matter anyway. They don't
realize the gifts really the guy that is given to
them and the ways in which they can be impactful.
How could you encourage that person?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Wonderful question. I think a lot of people who are
older assume that they're not needed anymore when I stepped
off of our paid staff. I'm still a volunteer pastor,
but when I stepped off of our paid staff a
few years ago, I kind of wonder, do I need
to just step away here? And the younger lead pastor said,
we want you to stay. Do we want you to
(13:24):
be with us so we can seek your counsel so
that you can help mentor younger people. And that was
so gracious of him, and we love doing that. I
think that younger generations actually appreciate the involvement of older people.
Your ministry might not look the same as it did
when you were younger, but it can be very fruitful,
very purposeful. And I would encourage my peers, my older peers,
(13:46):
not to assume that they're not wanted, they're not needed.
I think just the opposite is true. And now in
these years, one of the best ways we can help
is through encouragement. When asked to give counsel, I say
that careful when asked your counsel to encourage younger couples.
Mentoring younger couples, it can be a wonderful season of
(14:08):
life where we have more flexibility in our schedule, more
life that we've learned from more years with Christ to
enjoy that we can share with the coming generation.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
How can we learn more, Pastor Larry about what we've
discussed today, And where can we get a copy of
your resource?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yes, it's season married living the Gospel in the Middle
Years and beyond Amazon Christian book distributors. There's so many
book distributors where you can courchase in.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Pastor Larry E. McCall, thank you so much for sharing
with us today. Welcome and thank you for listening. Won't
you join me again. I'm your host, Michael Leech, and
I'm praying for you and praying that the rest of
your day is wonderful.
Welcome to Starcares, a weekly program that delves into the
issues that impact you and your family. This program is
the public affairs feature of this radio station. Now here's
your host, Michael Leach.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In marriage, the early years can be difficult as we
learn how to live together and manage roles and expectations
of being husband and wife. Not to mention if we're
starting a family. Challenges sometimes don't just end after ten,
twenty or thirty years, but they do change. You're different,
your spouse is different, and so is your marriage. How
(00:34):
can Christian couples find joy and purpose as they face
the blessings and the trials that come along with the
latter part of life? Let's talk about it. My guest
today is Pastor Larry E. McCall. Pastor Larry, thank you
so much for joining me today and welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, thank you, Michael, it's good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So you've written a resource entitled a Seasoned Marriage? What
motivated your writing?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
A few years ago I was asked to speak at
a conference for grand and the host pastor said, Larry,
would you and your wife Glad income a day early
and teach older couples on marriage principles and that's feason
of life. And I responded, I've never done that before,
but I'd be glad to And so on the way
home from that, I said to my wife, you know what,
(01:17):
there's almost no books out there on marriage in the
latter half of life. This could be a book. And
so we started working on it. And you know what,
we've enjoyed the process. We're older, we've been married. It'll
be fifty years next month.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Knowing God's grace through our own marriage. We're glad to
help others see the same kind of grace for their marriages.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Absolutely. What do you believe are some of the common
misconceptions about marriage in the later years.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Michael, I think younger couples assume either one of two things. Interestingly,
I think they're polar. I think young couples maybe know
a sweet older couple, maybe their grandparents or whatever, and
they think, oh, they're so sweet, everything must be easy
and nice and or older years. But on the other
polar extreme would be assumptions that marriage has to be
(02:05):
dull and boring in your older years. So I think
it depends on the person you're talking to. I think
there's a pretty wide spectrum on how people see the
older years of marriage until they get there.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, what are some of the challenges that couples may
face later in marriage as life changes.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yes, I think we got married young. My wife was
not quite twenty and I had just turned twenty one.
But we promised on our wedding day and sickness and
in health till death do his part. But I think
it was more sentimental than realistically embracing and understanding those
challenges that would come later in life. But some real
common ones, Michael, I think that empty nest is probably
(02:44):
one of the first big ones a lot of couples
face in marriage. How are we going to handle life
when the kids move out? And then right on the
heels of that is how we're supposed to relate to
adult kids. That's another one that we hear a lot
when we speak on these issues. A lot of people
in their latter half of life say, you know, we've
got challenges with our not just our grandkids, our kids
(03:06):
now we're supposed to relate to them. And then there's
things like retirement and failing health. Those are pretty common
issues depending on where you are on your journey young
couples don't normally anticipate those with any sort of deep understanding.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
How does marriage change once a couple enters into the
empty nest stage.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Especially couples that have raised children. I think a lot
of them have poured so much of their time and
energy into their kids, and understandably so, but sadly they've
neglected nurturing their marriage. And then one day they realize
we're the only two people living in this house, and
they look at each other and kind of ask, no,
who are you? And the relationship has just grown rather distant.
(03:46):
They need to regroup, they need to refocus on their
marriage and rebuild. But you know, sadly, Michael, there are
statistics out there of an increase in couples getting divorced
staff during twenty five years of marriage or more. And
this even as the name, it's called grat divorce, And
I think a lot of that is just they have
not anticipated the empty nest years, and they've neglected nurturing
(04:09):
their marriage. There is hope and help in the gospel.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Once kids have left the house, and then you talked
about retirement, and retirement comes, it can be easy to
fall into what marital monotony what can couples do to
avoid that trap?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Pastor larry marital monotony? Marriage can get this kind of
distant and dry. And as older couples, and when I
say older, I just mean that last half of life.
Even if you're in your late forties, you've probably crossed
the halfway point. And marriage does not have to be
boring and it does not have to be monotonous. But it
(04:45):
does take intentionality that couples, you know, are humble before
the Lord saying Lord, we want some help. We want
our marriage to be sweet and joyful, open communication with
each other, talking about it, a commitment to contribute to
the joy in the marriage and not just waiting for
the spouse to make it a happy marriage. But what
(05:05):
can I do to bring joy to my spouse? It
can be joyful. My wife and I enjoy each other.
We enjoy the season of life so.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
After caring for our children, and when that period comes
to an end, I mean some parents are like, oh no,
the kids are leaving. Other parents are like, who hooo?
You know, the empty nothing we can get to, you know,
do whatever we want however we want, whenever we want,
and just when we think that we're able to do that,
sometimes there comes a period of now caring for aging parents.
(05:34):
What advice you offer for balancing the challenges of honoring
parents while still trying to maintain a healthy marriage.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
You know, Michael, I've told other people that when you
read that commandment and the ten commandment to honor your
father and mother, if you ever noticed, it doesn't have
an age limit. God didn't throw that one in for
the kids. That's for all of life. Today is the
anniversary of the death of our last parent, my mother
in law. In their latter six months, we cared for
(06:03):
her along with my wife's siblings and their spouses, and
we loved her immensely. But it does take a commitment.
It takes time, energy, sometimes money. If your aging parent
doesn't live near you, it could be even separationis that's
been a wife for a while, as the caretaker has
to go stay with mom or dad, leaving the other
(06:25):
spouse at home for a season, and that can be challenging.
But what I care about is not only caring for
the elderly parent, but not neglecting the marriage in the process.
You know, let's be canned, and probably seventy five percent
of the caretakers in these situations are the women. It's
either the daughter or the daughter in law. And what
I've seen on occasion are men that just are oblivious.
(06:48):
The stress is on the wife. She's caring for the
aging parent. And so I'm speaking especially to my fellow men. Men,
let's not go passive. Let's not be oblivious to all
the sacrifices our wife is making and caring for the
elderly parent. But help, you know, and you might not
help the same way as your wife's helping, but look
for ways to help. If you don't see, ah, how
(07:10):
can I help? It might be using your own gifts
to help, or using your time or driving to appointments
you know, or whatever, or even just caring for the
home in a way that your wife doesn't return and
it's a chaos. It can give stress on the marriage,
but it can be a time, by God's grace, of
uniting a husband and wife as they share that mission
(07:31):
of lovingly, sacrificially caring for the aging parent.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Pastor Laria, you right about the importance of viewing marriage
through the lens of the gospel. How can couples practically
apply this perspective in our daily lives and how does
the Gospel shape in sweetened marriages?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Michael, That is one of my favorite topics to discuss.
We were probably twenty years into our marriage and we
just hit a low point and there hadn't been any unfaithfulness,
nobody threatened to vorce. Our marriage just wasn't fun anymore.
And just a quick story about that time, we met
an older gentleman. He was probably about eighty years old
at the time, and his wife was in the latter
(08:10):
stages of Alzheimer, and every day he would go to
the nursing home and he would help the staff change
her diaper, sponge, bath, spoon, feeder, and then he would
sing love songs to her. And he didn't do that once.
He did it day after day after day after day.
And I remember, as a frustrated forty something year old husband, thinking,
(08:31):
how does that work? Where does this man get the
love for his wife that way when she's not doing
anything for him. And about that time, as we were
struggling in our marriage and meeting this older gentleman, the
Holy Spirit brought to my mind first John four nineteen.
We loved because he first loved us. And it dawned
on me by the Spirit's kindness. That this man loved
(08:53):
his wife not because of what she was doing for him,
but because of what Christ had done for him. So
so he was going vertical in saying, to quote the
old Gaither song, here's my cup, Lord, fill it up, Lord.
And the Lord was filling up his cup with Christ's love,
and it was full and overflowing, and he had more
than enough love to give to his wife. That's grace.
(09:15):
That's the gospel. And so you can take that same pattern, Michael,
and you can apply it in so many ways. Why
should I forgive my wife or if she offends me,
not because she's worthy of forgiveness. She might be, but
not because of that, but because Christ has forgiven me.
Why should I be patient with my spouse? Because Christ
is patient with me? And the Gospel gives power, and
it's at the pattern for how we live as husband
(09:37):
and wife. We live for the glory of Christ and
the power of Christ, and reflecting Christ. I say it
this way, Michael, to reflect the greatest love story ever,
the love that Christ has for his bride. That's what
Paul says in Ephisians five point thirty two. It's a
glorious mission to share his husband.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And wife leaving a legacy of faith? What does it
mean to be intentional about leaving a legacy of faith
for your children, for your grandchildren and the generations that follow.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
It takes contentionality and God's grace, obviously, but to be
intentional in pouring into the coming generations the grace that
we've received, and to pour it in not only through
our words, but by the way we live, by our
relationships and involvement. Just a couple of weeks ago, I
sat on our back deck with one of our fifteen
year old granddaughters. She was telling my wife and me,
(10:27):
she said, I am so thankful for you as grandparents
because you pour into us spiritually, and I don't hear
my friends saying that their grandparents are pouring into them.
And it encouraged me that she realized what we're trying
to do by God's grace, but it also made me
sad that so many of her teenage peers are not
getting that. And so my wife and I are kind
(10:50):
of on a mission not only to live that way,
but help other grandparents see that grandparenting and even parenting
adult children is a mission, a ministry that we have
the opportunity. It hasn't Psalm seventy eight that we should
be telling the coming generations about the mighty works of God.
And then in verse seven it says so that they
(11:10):
should set their hope in God, and so to be
thinking when way together, how can I point them to
Christ through my words, through my teaching, through my example.
And we can still talk about other issues, obviously, but
that becomes part of how we live.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
How can we be fruitful in retirement? What are some
of the ways that couples can serve together in their
seasoned years.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I heard someone else say one time that if you're retiring,
don't just think about what you're retiring from, think what
you're retiring too. And that's a wonderful piece of counsel.
I think too many people get the retirement years and
they think, now it's me time. I've given so much
time to my job, my family, my relationships. It's me
(11:54):
time now. But after a while, you know, there's only
so much shopping you can do, there's only so many
golf games you can play, and there's only so much
TV you can watch, and you realize this isn't purposeful.
But in our older years, we can look for ways
to be fruitful, and it depends on the spiritual gifts
God's given, It depends on opportunities the needs around you.
But to have your eyes open and to be including
(12:16):
in your regular prayers, Lord, use me, use us for
your glory. Who would you like us to be serving
and using the gifts and opportunities He's given you to
pour into other people? And it could start with your
own family. How could I use my increased available time
to pour into my kids and grandkids or even great grandkids.
Or how would you like us to serve in the
local church that maybe we're not doing currently that we
(12:38):
could add to the life of the church through our
gifts or time or money. Just look for ways to
be fruitful, to be purposeful missional in our retirement years,
and not just be self centered.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
It's me time encourage someone who thinks that because they're
getting older, their impact wouldn't really matter anyway. They don't
realize the gifts really the guy that is given to
them and the ways in which they can be impactful.
How could you encourage that person?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Wonderful question. I think a lot of people who are
older assume that they're not needed anymore when I stepped
off of our paid staff. I'm still a volunteer pastor,
but when I stepped off of our paid staff a
few years ago, I kind of wonder, do I need
to just step away here? And the younger lead pastor said,
we want you to stay. Do we want you to
(13:24):
be with us so we can seek your counsel so
that you can help mentor younger people. And that was
so gracious of him, and we love doing that. I
think that younger generations actually appreciate the involvement of older people.
Your ministry might not look the same as it did
when you were younger, but it can be very fruitful,
very purposeful. And I would encourage my peers, my older peers,
(13:46):
not to assume that they're not wanted, they're not needed.
I think just the opposite is true. And now in
these years, one of the best ways we can help
is through encouragement. When asked to give counsel, I say
that careful when asked your counsel to encourage younger couples.
Mentoring younger couples, it can be a wonderful season of
(14:08):
life where we have more flexibility in our schedule, more
life that we've learned from more years with Christ to
enjoy that we can share with the coming generation.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
How can we learn more, Pastor Larry about what we've
discussed today, And where can we get a copy of
your resource?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yes, it's season married living the Gospel in the Middle
Years and beyond Amazon Christian book distributors. There's so many
book distributors where you can courchase in.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Pastor Larry E. McCall, thank you so much for sharing
with us today. Welcome and thank you for listening. Won't
you join me again. I'm your host, Michael Leech, and
I'm praying for you and praying that the rest of
your day is wonderful.
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