 Well, for clergy, I often ask the question, what is retirement? Well, I don't plan on retiring, but serving part-time. I'm a certified intentional interim minister and hope to be used in that area, but at the same time I see that I have many gifts that I can use in other parts of the kingdom here in the North Texas Conference. And so I'm available to help in very many ways. There are a lot of young clergy that are coming into the ministry that need to understand and better comprehend the process. And so, especially those that are persons of Asian, African American and Hispanic descent, who doesn't understand culturally that the process of ordination. And so I'll be playing a major role both at the district level and at the conference level in helping them navigate that process. I will be spending a lot of time with my family. I'll be traveling at the same time using what God has given me till today I die. Just as when I began my ministry, when I didn't know where God was going to send me or what God was going to do with me, I still trusted God. I kept one eye on the bishop, of course, but I trusted that God would show me and lead me in the way that I should go. So as I begin my retirement, I have no idea what God has in store for me, but I hope and pray that I trust and continue to look for what God has for me to do. I've just finished reading the book, Hillbilly Elegy, by JD Vance. Various people in JD's life enabled him to break through the barriers of poverty and a dysfunctional family system to graduate from high school, service country in the Marines, and graduate from college and then law school. These people made a real difference in JD's life, whether they knew it or not. I think that God is calling me to make that kind of difference too. I want to join all of you who are already engaged in making a difference in a child's life through our one plus one ministry or project transformation or perhaps another mentoring opportunity. Jesus is surely bringing about his kingdom and each of these children and in and through all who serve them. May God continue to create a passion in me and perhaps you too to make sure that the young among us are able to fulfill their God given potential and perhaps in that process create something new in me as well. My wife and I will be leaving Texas after 38 years here and moving to the far northwest where where mountains and forests and the ocean are all an hour away and two of our grandsons will be nearby and it will be a slightly shorter flight to Australia where there are two more grandsons. I will find others to hike with among the Douglas furs and the old growth forest and in the continuing green creation. I'm in contact with several prison ministries in Portland and in Washington because as my ministry began seriously in prison ministry here in Texas I look forward to again being involved in new ways committed ways with more of my fellow misfits. Whether it's my screwed up back or the Holy Spirit I don't know but I've never been able to sit still for a very long time as I was called to the United Methodist Church and met there by the good people of White Rock United Methodist. So I am now called to to go a different way within the church. Next spring I plan to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain and there are some outrageously beautiful trails in Australia and then when I'm 80 I'll be buying a six pack and some Cuban coronas. That's my incentive to stay healthy. I'll write about those things and I hope God will be honored with my life from here on out because that's my intention. Of God, of community, serve. Amen. In my life in retirement my number one goal is to play golf more than once a week and I think I can accomplish that but I'm not going to give up entirely on church ministry I'll be doing something hopefully some things that that I enjoy doing in a very narrow aspect I love working with social media and websites but also probably we'll do something in a local church maybe on staff part-time as long as I can find time to play with my grandson and enjoy playing golf. Okay so I think I know that God will continue to work on me and in me and I am really just changing the the direction of my calling I have been called to work in mediation and conflict resolution for over 10 years and done all kinds of postdoctoral training in that so I intend to set up my own consultancy to be a peacemaker knowing full well that with the biblical witness of peacemaking sometimes you got to turn over a few tables to get it done. Well with more time in retirement I'm sure hoping to see God create in me a better Jim Osier as a husband as a father as a grandfather as a friend I plan to continue in my ministry by leveraging my experiences to help churches and pastors in any way I can through my coaching and consulting ministry around the country just does break my heart to see pastors and churches want to be successful in reaching the mission field but they just can't get traction to move forward so I hope I'll be able to help in that in my retirement through the years to come I have only deep gratitude for the North Texas Conference and the churches and the people who have been Christ to me and for me my blessings go with you as I pass on the baton of leadership to the most qualified person I could imagine Owen Ross so I have no fears about North Texas Conference and about God's work in this church and amongst our people in the years to come I did not choose God God chose me for ministry and that calling doesn't end with my retirement God continues to call us all along the way in many mysterious ways for me I'm broken I'm worn out I'm tired but I surely believe God will continue to use me what that is is only a mystery but with an eagerness that I started my ministry over 50 years ago I say along with others here I am Lord I will go Lord when I think about how God will be creating a new in me through my retirement the thought that springs immediately to my mind is gratitude gratitude that God will that as long as we have life and breath God isn't finished creating in any of us so I'm approaching my retirement with the exciting idea of paying more attention to how God is just waiting to astonish me with wonder whether it is traveling to new places and being overwhelmed by their beauty or whether it's spending time with a cup of coffee and a good book in my own backyard knowing that to be drawn into that story is my only assignment for the day whether it's taking time to marvel at the ladybug on the hydrangea leaf or learning more of how to pluck the strings and shift the petals of the harp to allow its glorious tones to fill the air or whether it's just being present in amazement as grandchildren discover the trials and triumphs of each new stage of life the chance to be astonished by God's creating wonder is always there and I want to take time to pay attention and one of her latest collections of poems Mary Oliver records this one as her final offering I wish the words had come from my pen they're certainly in my heart she calls it a voice from I don't know where and she writes it seems you love this world very much yes I said this beautiful world and you don't mind the mind that keeps you busy all the time with its dark and bright wonderings no no I'm quite used to it busy busy all the time and you don't mind living with those questions I mean the hard ones the ones no one can answer actually they're the most interesting and you have a person in your life whose hand you like to hold yes I do it must surely then be very happy down there in your heart yes I said it is thanks be to God I can't imagine God not continuing to create a new in me and in all people who are willing to just be there and and and be involved I think availability is a number one thing that we need to be as Christians God does the work and God does the transformation I think God calls us and pushes us out to the to the very edge to the precipice if you will if we're willing to go and we're willing to trust God we might soar we might crash but God calls us to get out on the edge and when you're out there to just turn loose and tap dance tap dance on the precipice how do I think God will continue to create in retirement for me well immediately the story of my cancer and death both to myself and to the community is how to tell that story and how to include it in a life of discipleship God's inspiration certainly in my family dear wife Corinne my children and grandchild and how we'll belong to each other in each of these days and the good parts of that are have already begun I think God will continue to use me teaching the early class at first United Methodist Church Dallas preaching when I get a chance I know God will continue to use the things he's used all along in devotional life in music and bicycling getting to do that more I also understand and even seek God to guide my theological journey when Schubert Ogden graded my cradle at Perkins in 1975 he gave me a list at the end of things I knew the words to but I didn't understand man what a grading process after 12 years in the inner city I know what kingdom of God means but there are a lot of things on the list this last decade I've been working on what Holy Spirit means but from Ogden's list and given these days of my life and death I think I'm going to put Holy Spirit on hold and seek why resurrection is important why we need that what could that possibly add to an eternity we spend with God God's leading me through retirement and I might even have more time to listen well I don't believe God is through with me yet I anticipate making further discoveries about myself and growing in my ability to use myself in answering God's call to ministry and whatever form that may be whether it be in the local church or in other avenues and aspects of our society I continue to look toward a time of growth and discovery in addition to doing much more readily and speedily what the good Mrs. Wama could have me do I think I will it'll be a mixture of things that challenge me in my comfort zones on the one hand and things that that are very native and natural for me to do I I have been on a real journey all my life and certainly during all these years of ministry to discover and to employ increasingly a heart for the poor and one of the things I will be doing will be engaged not only in my hometown of Garland but in other places ministries with and in partnership toward and with the poor and that would that will be a challenge for me but I'm looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to having greater opportunity to sit down and not just care for or about people but get to know them particularly elements of the poor in our community and so that will be one thing always always involved in the work commission and outreach and the heart of that will be disaster response but also looking very much forward to a growth area of something that I've just pretty much set aside for 42 or 43 years and that is getting back into creation relative to environmental concerns both in terms of volunteer field work and in terms of policy related matters pertaining to environmental issues in the state of Texas and water quality in particular I've always had a high interest in that and so returning to a deep and abiding biblical theme of the stewardship of creation really look very much looking forward to that