“You almost lost your husband today.” Those were the shocking words I told my wife over the phone after a near-drowning incident. Little did we know how God would use that incident to redirect our marriage for His glory.

That redirection involved deciding to retire from our careers and ultimately joining with GFA to become furlough replacement missionaries. Since becoming associated with GFA, we’ve ministered in New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Scotland, and Australia. We know this is the path the Lord has charted for us, and it took that life-threatening incident to course-correct us.

The event occurred on Valentine’s Day in 2015. We had been married only several months (as our previous spouses had passed away), and we were still employed in our secular jobs. I was on a business trip in New Zealand. With a free day at the end of our business, my coworker and I decided to see some of the countryside. Jeff and I happened upon a scenic beach, and we decided to go for a swim. As I was swimming just several feet from shore in waist high water, I suddenly realized that I was getting pulled out to sea toward some jagged rocks where the waves were crashing!

My attempts to swim out of the current were exhausting me. I knew that unless the Lord intervened, I would soon be departing from this earth and seeing my Savior face to face. In desperation, I cried out to Him to save me from drowning. I reminded the Lord of what He already knew, that Gina and I had just gotten married and that we desired to serve Him together. Flashing through my mind as well was the commitment that I had made to Him some 10 years earlier that I would serve Him in any way, anywhere. I later learned that Gina had also independently made that commitment about that same time.

In my helplessness I spotted some surfers some distance away. I flailed my arm and cried out to them. One of them saw me and swam toward me. He put me on his surfboard and started pushing me toward shore, but the current was drawing us closer to the rocks! Ultimately, two more surfers came to my aid, and we reached safety. The Lord had spared my life.

When I returned to my hotel room, I called Gina and told her that she had almost lost her husband. Shortly after returning home, we both reflected on what the Lord seemed to be doing in our lives. We prayed about the possibility of both of us retiring and using our lives to serve the Lord in missions in various ways. Several months later, we sensed that this is what God had for us, and we retired.

Later that year, we contacted some missionaries in Uruguay and spent several weeks with each of them doing different work projects and giving our testimonies to various groups. The following year we went to Europe and South Africa where we worked on various missions projects and did some teaching/preaching.

In 2018, we faced a major decision point in following the Lord. GFA contacted us and asked if we would consider being furlough replacement missionaries for six months in New Zealand. We asked ourselves, “Do we really want to be gone for that length of time and be away from family?” Not only that, we felt unqualified to serve in that role since our backgrounds were as an engineer and a businesswoman. Our Savior guided us in answering those concerns. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37, NASB95). Jesus Christ gave His life for us so that we might live, not to ourselves, but for His glory. We also came to understand that He equips us for the work that He calls us to do. Based on that, we knew that He was leading us to accept the assignment.

How about you? Have you considered how God desires to use you in your retirement years? Does God need to redirect you? Are those precious retirement years something you are willing to dedicate to God?

Do you agree with Jim Elliot who once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose?” Are you thinking biblically that your time belongs to your Creator and not to you? “But only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42, NASB95). Mary made the right choice regarding her time and actions. What will you choose?