You Are Not Behind

One of the things I hear most from men today is this:

“I feel behind.”

Behind financially. Behind spiritually. Behind professionally.

They look around at other men and quietly wonder:

Am I where I’m supposed to be by now?

And the older I get, the more I question the timelines we’ve accepted.

Because our culture has a script for men.

In your 20s, you’re supposed to figure life out. In your 30s, build your career and family. In your 40s and 50s, accumulate and secure things. In your 60s, prepare to retire. Then slowly fade into the background.

That may be man’s plan.

But I’m not convinced it’s God’s.

Yes, there are seasons in a man’s life.

I believe that.

Wild at Heart and later works on the masculine journey talk about stages of manhood, and I think there’s wisdom in recognizing them.

Boyhood matters. Adventure matters. Responsibility matters.

But what concerns me is how many men have started believing their age defines their usefulness.

I hear men talk as if life is already decided.

Like they missed their window.

Like because they aren’t where they thought they would be by now… the meaningful part of their story is over.

But when I look at Scripture, I don’t see God working according to human timelines.

I see Him interrupting them constantly.

Moses was 80 when God called him into the assignment most people remember him for.

Abraham started a journey late enough that most people today would have told him to slow down and enjoy retirement.

David was overlooked entirely before becoming king.

And throughout history, God has used young men, old men, uncertain men, broken men, and men who probably felt completely unqualified.

I think about my own life.

As a young man, I owned a Chick-fil-A franchise.

Then I started a cleaning business with my brother that is still operating today.

I worked in real estate.

From the outside, my life had direction.

But at 40, I left all of that behind to follow what I believed God was calling me into.

At the time, it made very little sense.

Now I’m 65.

And honestly?

I feel just as hopeful and expectant about the future as I did in my 20s.

Maybe more.

I’m not sitting around waiting to be done with life.

I’m still dreaming. Still building. Still listening. Still stepping into things that stretch me.

A lot of that comes from watching my father.

He’s 89 now.

He officially retired from pastoring a church at 88.

But he didn’t stop being a shepherd.

He still serves people. Still encourages people. Still ministers to people.

He just stopped getting paid for it.

And maybe that’s part of the problem with how we think about age.

We’ve confused retirement from a career…

with retirement from purpose.

The Kingdom of God doesn’t work that way.

Not for eternal beings.

So if you’re a man who feels behind right now…

Listen carefully:

God is not intimidated by your age. Or your setbacks. Or the fact that your life hasn’t followed the timeline you imagined.

He can redirect a life in a moment.

But it starts the same way it always has:

By listening.

By becoming available.

By being willing to follow—even when it doesn’t fit the script.

And if you do that, don’t be surprised if God asks you to do something that stretches you.

At 20. At 40. At 65. At 89.

Because the Kingdom of God has never operated according to man’s timetable.

Let me ask you this—

What if you’re not behind at all?

What if God is simply not finished with your story yet?