Dear Subscribers,
This is my personal story of why I believe in the Providence of God.
I realize some of the subscribers to Life UnCorked may not even believe in Providence or may not have the same belief in God that I do.
My prayer is that it will, at least, cause you to pause and think about it.
Remembering
I will confess right up front that the retirement adjustment has been a different challenge than I thought it would be.
I’m still getting my “sea legs” as they say in the Navy.
It’s mainly tweaking the schedule and activity right now. We do a lot of stuff, so I’m not bored or sitting around twiddling my thumbs.
I will write about how the transition has been going soon in other posts as time goes on.
Today, though, I want to talk about the Providential aspects of how we got to where we are today.
Since we knew this time in our lives would arrive rather quickly, we have been doing a little planning. Some for years. Some more recently. And some on the fly as we learned.
Here’s a quick down and dirty of how we got this far.
Deuteronomy 8:2 “And you shall remember all the way which Jehovah your God led you these forty years . . .”
God told the Israelites to continually review all that he had done in their lives, so when they faced new trials (and they would) they could reflect upon him, not their circumstances.
In the New Testament, Paul wrote something similar to the Christians at Rome:
Romans 15:4 For the things that were written before were written for our learning, so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
So often, we cannot see beyond our present circumstances. We’re confused, we hurt, we feel all alone.
But when we look back and see God’s providential direction in our own lives, we can remember how there was always light ahead.
Always, a way forward seemed to manifest itself.
We always made it through.
Granted, this is my own story, so there is built-in personal bias, but there are just too many incidences like this to attribute it to anything other than Providence.
The Twists and Turns of Life
Consider the examples below, which only cover, roughly, the 20 years leading up to retirement.
For examples of providential direction before this time period, please read
The Recruiter
After a 13-year hiatus from all things military, I was approached by a young enterprising Navy recruiter who said that because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they were looking for more reservists.
At the time, I managed a branch for a staffing service in Columbus, OH, and would travel to job fairs to find good employees for our clients. I got to know this Navy recruiter who would also attend many of the same job fairs.
I already had 11 years of total military service, so he told me that if I could do nine more years by the time I was 60, I could come back in.
I was fifty at the time, so the math worked in my favor. A sizeable piece of the retirement puzzle fell into place at just the right time.
So, that’s what I did.
I retired in 2012 with a 20-year military pension and lifetime medical benefits for me, my wife and any dependents still at home.
Providence or coincidence?
What if I had not met that recruiter?
Learning About Passive Income
Even before that, almost by accident, we had gotten into rental properties. Not a lot, but enough to give me a perspective on the wisdom of owning rentals and beginning as early as possible.
Today, we still have one rental, completely paid off, that provides additional income. Month in and month out.
Another piece of the puzzle.
Providence or coincidence?
What if this opportunity had not happened?
Discovering the DOD Contracting World
During a deployment to Iraq, I ran across civilian “contractors” who did the very same thing I did (intelligence), but with significantly higher salaries.
This was a no-brainer. I didn’t need rocket science to figure out that’s what I should be doing.
These contract jobs paid very well. This allowed me to greatly build up my Social Security and retirement fund.
Also, I had been injured while training to go to Iraq and almost didn’t go. Which meant I would not have learned of the contracting opportunities.
Another piece of the puzzle.
Providence or coincidence?
Since I was still in relatively good health, I decided to not draw S.S. until I turned 70. To be honest, I had always thought that Social Security would be a pittance, so I was pleasantly surprised at the amount when I did start receiving it.
We lived in Ohio during the time I was in Iraq, but our “home” was South Carolina. So, my thinking was that I would continue my temporary duty at Ft. Gordon, GA near Augusta on the SC state line and look for contract opportunities there.
It wasn’t the “Beloved State”, but it was right next door.
Turns out that an opportunity opened up at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH about 2 hours drive from where we lived.
I took the job and after roughly 2 years, the same job opened up at Shaw AFB in Sumter, SC which was an even better deal than Ft. Gordon.
A bonus was that the move was company-paid. That was a huge financial boost.
Providence or coincidence?
What if I’d never gone to Iraq and learned about the gov’t contracting world?
One Deal Leads To Another
As we were looking for a place to live, a realtor was recommended by someone who went to a church I attended.
This realtor pointed out a foreclosed property she was going to handle which consisted of 5 acres with a 3000 SF custom-built home that was just 4 miles from Shaw AFB.
This was an unbelievable deal, so at her direction, we made an acceptable offer. After a few hard hours of elbow grease, we had cleaned the house up very nicely and moved in.
Eleven years later, when my father-in-law became ill, my wife decided that she needed to be with him full-time. Since we lived around 3 hours away, that meant I was going to travel there on the weekends.
At that point, I was only a little over a year from retirement, so we decided to sell our Sumter house and buy upstate to be nearer and also provide my wife a place for some downtime without having to drive 2.5 hours to get home.
Once again, providence stepped in.
Upstate South Carolina is a very popular retirement area, so housing prices are higher and anything near what we had in Sumter was pretty much out of our price range.
Except for one.
God, had prepared one property just for us - 2.5 acres with another custom-built home overlooking Hogback Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountain chain.
I have dubbed this retirement retreat “Highland House”. It sits only 6 miles from my wife’s parent’s home.
Another piece of the puzzle. Providence or coincidence?
Two additional bonuses were thrown in during this transition period.
The house in Sumter sold very quickly for a great deal more than we bought it for. Now, an Air Force Colonel and his family enjoy the same home we did for 11 years.
During the year remaining until I retired, a pastor friend told me of a place where the owner traveled for work constantly and needed someone to live at her fully furnished house. Rent was minimal compared to the market rate.
That pastor is someone I’ve known since Jr. High days.
But, what if we hadn’t known each other all those many years ago?
Providence or coincidence?
What a wonderful turn of events as we head into a brand new chapter in our life’s adventure.
The Domino Effect
I am truly amazed, as I think back over the many years even before all this, to see the order of events in our lives and how one thing led to another, even though we could not see but one thing at a time.
I would never have met that Navy recruiter if we hadn’t moved to Columbus, OH.
If I had never met the Navy recruiter, I would have never gone to Iraq and met the DOD Intel Contractors.
If I had never met the DOD contractors, I would never have known about that world or heard of the job at Wright-Patterson AFB which led to the job at Shaw AFB, SC.
If that particular real estate agent had not been recommended to me I would not have known about the foreclosure property.
If the property we currently own had been listed for much more (and it could have been), and if we hadn’t sold the Sumter property for a huge profit, we would not have been able to afford it.
If the rental properties we bought so long ago had not materialized we may not have learned about the advantages of passive income.
What I can say for sure is that we would be in a different situation today.
Psalm 48:14 is a scripture verse that expresses Providence so well
For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
My wife and I had this printed on our wedding bulletin almost forty-two years ago. At the time I did not understand the depth of meaning of that verse in our lives.
Now, I can look back and see God’s hand of providence opening doors, paving the way, preventing disaster, and proving our faithfulness at each step.
The things we learned:
Through the past four decades together -
We learned to trust God’s guidance.
We learned to take measured risks on this journey.
We learned to focus on him amid trials.
We learned to thank him for every situation whether we understood it or not.
I’m a Providence guy . . . What about You?
Can you look back and see God’s hand of providence in your life?
Did you recognize it as such?
Have you learned to trust him with your life?
If not, I hope that your eyes of understanding will be at least open to that thought.
He is always reaching out.
What has been your Experience? I would love to read your comments.