Rejoice, be content and create memories with your family

I grew up in Milford, Connecticut on the coast of the Long Island Sound. My father was a chemist and had a really demanding job filled with much stress. I did not see him much. He worked all week and on the weekends he played guitar in a local band that had gigs every weekend. When I did see him, he usually was quiet, angry and very tired. I believe I was around the age of 11 or 12 when I realized that when my father interacted, he would mostly talk about retirement. My father would constantly talk about what he was going to do when he was no longer working.

Truncone

One day, I learned that my father had a dream of our family moving out of the big city to a country home on a country lane with land full of wildlife, peace and tranquility. I was excited about this dream and wanted to talk about it.

One day in anger, I was told to quit talking about it because it is just an ignorant dream.

So I quit talking about it, but my father’s pursuit to retire wealthy consumed him.

What none of us expected happened in 1984, when I was 14 years of age, the country home on a country lane with land full of wildlife became a reality. My father was transferred and received a promotion. He was now an analytical research engineer and we moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana.

It was an exciting time, but nothing changed. Mom was busy making the new house a home and Dad was working even more than he did before. He had more pressure to deliver. He was quiet, and withdrawn and when he would talk it was about retirement.

The years to follow started with my life as a teenager hitting rock bottom. However, after that, the blessings of those years for me were meeting the girl that would later become my bride, meeting Jesus Christ and accepting him as my Lord and Savior and being called to ministry.

The years that followed included marriage and moving to Missouri where we have spent our lives in full-time ministry. Our two daughters were born in Missouri as well. I have spent my life serving people and though I have a work ethic similar to my father’s, I had made a decision a long time ago, that my relationship with my wife and kids would be my top priority and God is the center of our family unit.

I have made my decisions as a Christian father first and then as a pastor. I have lived to “love unto the least of these,” like Jesus told us to live. With that being said, I still have dreams and aspirations of what life looks like in my latter years. I watched my Dad work his whole life with one goal in mind to retire a wealthy man, which he did 12 years ago. He missed out on a lot, but his dream came true. However, he had not been feeling well. So literally after 46 years with one company and then the retirement party, as soon as it was over, he went to the doctor, which he hardly ever did.

The day he went to the doctor changed my family’s life forever. The day after my father retired he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. That was May 2006. This May it will be 13 years. The first few years he was able to get by, pushing through and denying that he was sick. However by 2010 it was apparent that the disease had significantly progressed. Dad is now in a wheelchair, sometimes he does not remember who you are and he lives in a nursing home. Retirement has become nothing like he had planned.

My father’s life has become a lesson for me and the Lord has allowed me to share it with others to guide them along in making important decisions. Let me also say that I love my father and mother dearly. I visit them as often as I can and speak to my mom a few times a week. My father, I speak to when he has the ability to communicate over the phone. Here are a few things I have learned over the years through hectic work schedules and the challenges of life:

• Learn to rejoice — I will decide today to live in peace and joy. Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. I will live to love and love to live.” Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Paul repeats himself because rejoicing in the Lord is very important.”

• Be content and praise the Lord for what he has provided. We live in a culture that lives in discontent in everything they have and everything they do. Nothing is ever good enough. From better cars, bigger houses to the latest and greatest smartphone. 1 Timothy 6:6, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. Paul said I have learned to be content in whatever the circumstances.”

I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or living in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. What is he saying? I can do all this, living in need or having plenty because Christ Jesus is with me and he alone will give me strength. (That text is Philippians 4:11-13.) If I choose to dwell on the lack of what I have I will find myself depressed. However if I think about what is good and I am living to love and loving to live I will be content.

Paul also said this, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

• Celebrate God’s Sovereignty. We have been saved, we have been bought by the blood of Jesus we are overcomers and as we continue to be faithful he will open doors that no man can shut. He will create new opportunities and blessings. Jeremiah 29:11 is the verse people know best concerning celebrating God’s Sovereignty; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future.” However, verse 13 says it is based on us seeking after God and being faithful; “You will seek and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

I encourage you to pursue Christ, Rejoice, be content and create memories with your family. You only have one shot at it so get it right by getting yourself all in! Be glad and be good at loving to live and living to love.

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Truncone and his wife, Heidi, have been married 26 years. They have two daughters, Hannah, 20, and Abigail, 16. They have lived in Van Buren for eight years.