Taking Care of Business, Before You Go…

Year ago, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on aging. After decades of pastoral ministry and many personal experiences with families facing the advanced aging of their loved ones, I have a few suggestions, gleaned from the words of many who have shared their experiences that might be helpful.

Be prepared. More than Boy Scouts need to “be prepared” -- for change, for crisis, for physical, spiritual, and emotional challenges. Most women will outlive their husbands by seven years and such statistics should cause men to consider the financial resources their spouses would need to be cared for after their death. Choosing life insurance and options at retirement that consider a spouse benefit may be critical to meeting those needs.

Start by discussing your wishes about everything with family members. Write down as much as you can and entrust that information to others near you. If you have wishes regarding your funeral arrangements, accept limitations of time, distance, resources, and even the people you wish to preside --- you may outlive them.
Pre-planning and pre-paying for funeral expenses can relieve your family of that responsibility and help them to avoid being challenged by differences of opinion amongst siblings or other relatives in regard to selections. Your local funeral director will gladly assist you in this process.

Anticipate health changes by identifying a Power of Attorney for Health Decisions which you name and identify before severe illness or the inability to make medical decisions occurs. This person should be someone you trust and who has the ability to make conscientious decisions on your behalf. State clearly any wishes you have regarding organ donation to family members and include such information in the documents you carry on your person. Your personal attorney and physicians offices should also be informed and can advise you if you have questions in this regard.

Anticipate changes that may require assistance with financial matters. Identify someone with Power of Attorney for business matters who can handle your bill-paying, taxes, and matters relating to your possessions, accounts, and property. Again, this should be a person who you can trust to carry out these responsibilities effectively and with your best interests in mind.

Banks and accounting firms can often be of assistance in helping with these matters. Many regular bill-paying functions can be handled via automatic payments from your accounts if there are sufficient resources to draw upon. Contact your local bank or credit union for assistance in establishing these types of arrangements.

Late life transitions become increasingly difficult if you have large quantities of material goods to attend to. Distributing possessions to those you wish to have them, making intentional efforts to reduce the logistical challenges of large collections or years of gathering things may allow you to be a great blessing to others by your channeling those resources and possessions in appropriate ways. Consider gifts of books to libraries or family members. Consider your extensive furnishings and the necessity of “down-sizing” should assisted living or nursing home arrangements be required. Value your opportunity to be a “giver” while you have the means and mind to make those decisions before someone else is required to make them for you.

Consider including a tithe of your estate in your will directed to your church and its ongoing ministry.

If you have appreciated stock holdings, take early advantage of tax benefits that allow you to distribute appreciated stocks at full value as charitable contributions without the penalties of capital gains taxes and with the full contribution value directed to the charity of your choosing. This can be a win-win way of maximizing your use of available resources.

If you have outlived your spouse and desire to leave resources to your children or grandchildren, consider trusts at least 5 years before you anticipate needed advanced care options. Trusts that are less than 5 years old often are scrutinized differently if consideration is being made for Medicaid options for nursing care.

Buy a $5,000 paid up life insurance policy. It is excluded from “counted income”
in connection with many state Medicaid programs.

Establish a $5,000 savings account marked as “for funeral expenses.” Again, it is excluded from being counted in connection with Medicaid programs.

Write down the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all those contacts your children, grandchildren or care-givers need to have should you be suddenly incapacitated. Include your pastor, physicians and what type, all medical care providers, all pharmacys you use and prescription medications you take currently, the names of your attorney, bookkeeper, accountant, or tax advisor. List all accounts of banks, safe deposit boxes, and the location of your will.

Advise as to your wishes and state them in a living will, a power of attorney document, and medical power of attorney document, along with your will and any related statements of your wishes. Share this information as appropriate with your family, your physician, and your attorney.

Identify whom you wish to serve as executor of your estate. Name that person and alternates in your will. Identify all properties owned, investment accounts, location of savings bonds, location of weapons, and ammunition. Add trigger locks to all guns for protection of your family members and household guests.

Identify your favorite things and what you wish to keep near you if possible in an alternative housing / living situation. Be flexible, some situations are more limiting than others due to health and cost requirements.

Make all insurance policies of all types, with account numbers readily available.
Place all deeds to property, titles to vehicles, and any required documentation related to businesses or memberships, clubs, etc available and clearly marked for access by those you trust to supervise financial and legal matters. If you have hidden stashes of cash, get it out of the freezer, foot-locker or hole in the ground and take it to the bank.

Make responsible changes when needed and do not postpone needed adjustments…it only makes them more difficult. If you need hearing aids, get them. If you need cataract surgery – get it. If you need to change your living arrangements for your safety and well-being – do so, and preferably before such changes are “forced by circumstance.” If you need medical attention – get it. If you need dental care --- ask for it. If the home you live in is one you can no longer maintain or keep clean – consider other options within your means.

Families often share the load of responsibly caring for aging family members with wisdom, sensitivity and in respectful appreciation of their loved one’s many needs. Even in the best of circumstances, the attention to the above matters will be a great help to those entrusted with care-giving and responsibilities for business and financial matters. Start now to put your “house in order” in order to be a blessing t

Tooth Decay

Teeth are some of the strongest parts of the human body, but they have a capacity to become influenced over time with bacteria and external influences that can undermine their function and effectiveness.

Whether you are spending time reading the side of your toothpaste tube or visiting your local dentist, you are likely to be given the standard drill of brush your teeth aftermeals, floss daily, and if you are the right age rinse with an anti-bacterial agent or decay preventative solution to reduce the effect of decay that can cause cavities.

Un-cared-for teeth can rot, decay, cause infection, heart disease, and a host of other less than pleasing results like bad breath or death depending upon how far you go in neglecting such a basic thing as oral health.

So what happens when you neglect the church, the body of Christ? I am specifically relating to the people who compose this divinely invented community. A church is defined as people of God gathered to fulfill God’s purposes in the world and sent out to influence that world in His name. There is a coming and going to that dynamic that is important. We gather to be equipped for service and we go out to serve.We gather to fellowship and find strength in the gifts of others that bless us and in turn invest our own gifts in the lives of others. We go out from the body to serve in the world as ambassadors for Christ to bring good news in Jesus name.

The failure to attend to spiritual health and to the body of Christ can, like teeth, result in rot, decay, and dis-ease that can yield a multitude of symptoms like poor communication, weak capacities, limited resources, and less than effective coming and going in Jesus’ name to learn, grow, and serve others.

So what’s the cure? Daily attention to spiritual health and regular check-ups with fellow believers who offer care and love and guidance in fellowship with the Lord who heals our diseases, who gives us insight and understanding, and who guides us to wholeness in Him --- in that context you find what you need and the spiritual health that comes with it.

Holy or Not So Holy?

The technology that allows me to prepare this article while at my home, then to email it to one of our members who proceeds to uplink it to our church website so that you may then download it from our website to your computer; and, if you wish, print a copy to read or share with someone else -- is amazing. But in the midst of our “awe” regarding such emerging benefits of internet connectedness, are we living in “awe and wonder” of our God?

The word “holy” implies something or someone “set apart for a divine purpose.”
To be holy is to be dedicated to God’s intention. To be holy is to be “given” to God. To be holy is to be focused upon acting, living, working, playing, feeling, and thinking in ways that bring glory to God. The Bible is inscribed as Holy because it directs us to comprehend the revelation of God…it is thus a Holy Book…in fact a collection of Holy books expounding and transmitting knowledge and testimony and witness to the work of God and the manifestations of God’s working in the world. Holy is an important designation for that which is no longer ordinary and certainly not intended as a label for that which is not committed to God’s purpose. By that definition, we must understand that we are called to be holy…as our Lord is holy. We are called to claim the Holiness of God as a characteristic description of who we are as bound in intimate relationship to Him. We are holy when we act in union with God’s desire and intention. Following Jesus will make you holy. Following the leading of the Holy Spirit will enable you to respond appropriately to God’s call upon your life.

Awe and wonder and worship are the work of the church as a holy priesthood of believers sharing in the mission we have been given by God. A holy identity is to mark who we are as God’s people laboring in His name to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. It is a holy calling. It is an amazing, awesome, wonderful calling upon our lives. A world of sinners invited to be made holy by the act of God and by our confession of faith and trust in Him who came to save us from our sins. That opportunity transforms us in the power of a resurrected-from-the-dead Messiah. Such new births bring transforming new beginnings to all who call upon His name. A holy life…is it where you are living today? Or perhaps you would say…not so holy? Either way…know Christ makes all the difference in who you will ever be, in what you will ever do that really matters, and in bringing the best future to your experience. Call upon Him to forgive you of your sins, to bring you to an understanding of His purpose for your days, and to become one living a life in Holy obedience and commitment to His purpose.
That is something to be in awe and wonder about forever!

Missionary Influence

In this past weekend of conversations with a number of mission personnel, one of the striking similarities in their stories is the measure of their influence best being seen in their willingness to engage themselves in the lives of those near them. Whether in the contacts with neighbors, co-workers, or students, the connections that seemed to bear the most fruit were those that allowed them the closest interaction and most basic forms of expressing kindness, friendship, love, and caring. As a result, God brought dramatic change to the lives of people. He guided them to grow and to learn and to share and to commit themselves to His service. Such ministry multiplied, not as a result of effective methods of information sharing, but in the daily consistency of Christian living as expressed in giving hearts laboring to show and share the love of Christ. That is no different in our place of service. Living before others a daily testimony of God’s grace and building relationships of trust is an essential foundation for bringing others to Christ.

As you live each day, remember the importance of pointing others to Christ. It will be challenging, to trust God with the uncertainties, the unknowns, and the yet to be determined events of your future, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His constant love will make up for what you don’t know, if you will have faith to go with Him, to do as He leads.