Many have commented on how busy we continue to be and question references to our current lifestyle as retirement. We are enjoying the journey and find idleness no attraction. Teaching college students this semester at Mississippi College and William Carey University is less demanding and more fulfilling than I had anticipated; teaching “Impact Your World” courses for pastors in South Mississippi and at our church on Wednesday nights are opportunities to simply communicate what has always been the passion of our lives.

Weekend engagements included preaching at Harrisburg Baptist Church in Tupelo last week. We set the cruise control and enjoyed a leisure 3-hour drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway through farmland and woods, delighting in the redbuds and dogwoods beginning to burst into bloom. Tupelo was my birthplace and I did meet some older folks who went to school under my parents and remember me running around as a toddler.  We will be returning to Richmond next weekend where we will be involved in training new missionaries in orientation and speaking at Centreville Baptist Church in Virginia on Sunday.

The difference between retirement and our former life is not having to intersperse these ministries with administrative responsibilities and hurrying back to the office to oversee a global missions program. We are having fun along the way! We have enjoyed attending home basketball games at Mississippi College, but now that the season is over we are anxiously blocking our time for March Madness and catching as much of the NCAA championship play-offs as possible. We joined family in watching a great-nephew’s team advance in the state high school play-offs last week.

Early in the week we attended the “Glen Campbell Good-Bye Tour” concert in Jackson, enjoying all of our longtime favorites including “Gentle on My Mind,” “By the Time I get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Later we joined a group from our Sunday School class to take in a touring “Branson Variety Show” for an entertaining evening featuring the Spoken 4 quartet and comedian Homer Lee.

While in Atlanta at the Mission CEO retreat we final got to see the phenomenal Georgia Aquarium. In spite of many trips to and through Atlanta over the years we never took time to see this fascinating array of sea creatures, walking through and under huge bodies of water filled with whales, sharks, dolphins and colorful tropical fish.

But one of most rewarding activities is the yard work. I know that is really weird for those of you into fishing, hunting or golf, but it is a joy to see the azaleas beginning to bloom, forsythia sprouting golden yellow and large purple blossoms on the Japanese magnolia tree. This was a productive week (following classes) as we interspersed boxwoods among the hollies on the side of the house and built trellises for rambling roses in front of the air conditioning condensers.