{"id":1608,"date":"2011-09-07T16:46:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T20:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1608"},"modified":"2011-09-07T16:46:36","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T20:46:36","slug":"wearing-out-vs-rusting-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/wearing-out-vs-rusting-out.html","title":{"rendered":"Wearing out vs rusting out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My good friend, Inez Thompson used to say, \u201cI\u2019d much rather wear out than rust out.\u201d \u00a0In reality, Inez was active and happily working until she had a stroke that left her unable to continue serving the Lord. \u00a0Calculating her age from my memory, I would assume that she was about 80 years old when she finally had to step down from her pastoral position at a local church. \u00a0She was the pastor of the seniors\u2019 in the church; and she worked as the church\u2019s bookkeeper for many years. \u00a0Eventually, her daughter took over the bookkeeping portion of her job. \u00a0But Inez continued to do her pastoral duties until her health would no longer allow her to serve.<\/p>\n

Inez started coming to my home during a time that I felt I was to take a sabbatical year from my church activities. \u00a0Immediately after I began the year off from my \u201cextra activities,\u201d I got pregnant. \u00a0It was that year that I started writing. \u00a0However, it was a tough transition because I was used to doing many different ministries. \u00a0Our home was a bustling beehive of activity. \u00a0My two older children were both in school and I had intended to finish my college when my plans were interrupted by the unexpected pregnancy. \u00a0My husband and I were thrilled with this new addition to our family; but I had to put a halt to my school plans.<\/p>\n

Our beehive home became a silent, solitary place in the mornings and afternoons. \u00a0During that year, Inez took a job as a beauty consultant who visited my home with her beauty products. \u00a0I learned that if I ordered something she would come every Thursday at 1:45pm. \u00a0I\u2019d never worn makeup or used beauty creams; but to keep her coming, I became one of her best customers.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Addtionally, Inez was much more than my cosmetics salesperson. \u00a0She became a treasured friend and mentor. \u00a0Inez\u2019 daughter and I were the same age and we both had two children. \u00a0Yet, it was Inez who reached out to me with love and patience. \u00a0I learned later that I was always her last appointment because she spent extra time with me. \u00a0Perhaps she sensed my hunger for companionship.<\/p>\n

During those quiet afternoon visits, Inez never tried to teach, preach or disciple me. \u00a0She was my friend. \u00a0We would talk and hearing my own criticism bouncing off of her was the only correction that I needed. \u00a0Faced with a godly person who shunned gossip and harsh assessments of others, I learned to curve my own conversation. \u00a0Being Inez\u2019 friend taught me more than any Bible teacher I ever sat under.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve tried to emulate the friendship that I found in Inez and transplant her good seed into the lives of other young women. \u00a0I found in my friend, a Christ model that I wanted to follow. \u00a0I pray each day that God will give me the same grace and patience, becoming a model for other young women. \u00a0I like the idea of wearing out rather than rusting out.<\/p>\n

Have you found a good way to reach out to a froemd that will enable them to find God\u2019s wholeness and joy? \u00a0Do you try to be a mentor to everyone or do you find that you must zero into one or two lives at a time?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My good friend, Inez Thompson used to say, \u201cI\u2019d much rather wear out than rust out.\u201d \u00a0In reality, Inez was active and happily working until she had a stroke that left her unable to continue serving the Lord. \u00a0Calculating her age from my memory, I would assume that she was about 80 years old when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,182,40,186,49,8],"tags":[690,21,688,699,715,701,689,267,6,700],"class_list":["post-1608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-mentally-challenged-community","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-mentoring","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nWearing out vs rusting out - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/wearing-out-vs-rusting-out.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wearing out vs rusting out - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My good friend, Inez Thompson used to say, \u201cI\u2019d much rather wear out than rust out.\u201d \u00a0In reality, Inez was active and happily working until she had a stroke that left her unable to continue serving the Lord. \u00a0Calculating her age from my memory, I would assume that she was about 80 years old when…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/wearing-out-vs-rusting-out.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-07T20:46:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/09\/mentoring-2-300x173.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wearing out vs rusting out - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/wearing-out-vs-rusting-out.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wearing out vs rusting out - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"My good friend, Inez Thompson used to say, \u201cI\u2019d much rather wear out than rust out.\u201d \u00a0In reality, Inez was active and happily working until she had a stroke that left her unable to continue serving the Lord. \u00a0Calculating her age from my memory, I would assume that she was about 80 years old when…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/wearing-out-vs-rusting-out.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-09-07T20:46:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/09\/mentoring-2-300x173.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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