My wife and I are both fully retired. We moved to this rural community to help watch our grandkids. Life has been great until moving here. Now things are a little testy. The biggest problem, it seems, is that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do outside of babysitting. Our center has been the church of Christ, but there is only one congregation within a reasonable driving distance. We came from a group of hundreds to one with less than twenty. There are only a few men, which makes life a little bit harder.\u00a0 The workload is heavy even when everyone is present. But! <\/strong>I just complained about not having anything to do and having too much to do. Well, that too much is just on Sunday, no way to spread it out.<\/p>\n I don’t know what to do or where to turn. I don’t have any other male family members to confide in or otherwise to consult. I’m not too good at being my own elder. Of course, I have prayed and expected an answer, but maybe I’m like Abraham and Sarah, and I just can’t wait. I feel like I am just sitting here watching my life drain away.<\/p>\n Please share your thoughts.<\/p>\n\t I’ve been a part of smaller congregations for most of my life. At one, there were 14 people and 6 were members of my family. I did the preaching, and the classes, and led the singing. Some days I also led prayers and served the Lord’s Supper. It was just what needed to be done. Oh, and I also held a full-time job.<\/p>\n Ask my wife — I don’t like to sit still. I have projects to work on when I have idle time. I have hobbies that I tinker in (photography, hiking, learning Spanish). I generally invite others to join me but it doesn’t bother me if I’m the only one. I look for ways to invite the young people in the congregation to have things to do. Next month a bunch of us are going on a three-day canoe trip that I organized. It will be about the 20th time for me.<\/p>\n In the congregation, we encourage the young men to read scriptures, say prayers, help with the Lord’s Supper, etc. Eventually, they start song-leading and giving short talks. If you don’t have someone to teach music, organize a trip to one of the singing schools and get several from your congregation to go along with you. Do things like this solve the problem both now and in the future.<\/p>\n Hold a community Bible study at a local diner. Offer to pick up groceries for someone who is shut-in.<\/p>\n As Jesus noted, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest<\/em>” (John 4:35). There is always something to do for the Lord. You can’t do everything, but there is enough you could do that you don’t need to be idle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: My wife and I are both fully retired. We moved to this rural community to help watch our grandkids. Life has been great until moving here. Now things are a little testy. The biggest problem, it seems, is that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to do outside of babysitting. Our center has been the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[498],"class_list":["post-50751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-effort"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53467,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-by-grace-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":0},"title":"Salvation by Grace (Bassford)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Recently, I have become an even louder proponent of grace, indeed of the naked necessity of grace, than I ever was before. I can tell from the comments I've been getting on social media that this has made some good brethren nervous. They reply with variations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39846,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-keep-from-going-too-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":1},"title":"How do we keep from going too far?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend (21 years old) and I (20 years old) have been going out for almost 3 years now and were best friends for 2 years before that. Both of our parents have decided that marriage is out of the question until we finish our degrees, so we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88584,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/insufferable-nits\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":2},"title":"Insufferable Nits","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Calton via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 3, 30 September 1991 Age gets all of us. But like most folks, you and I sometimes sit around and talk about the things that might have been....if only! Not too many years ago, a group at work was talking about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7634,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-parable-of-the-unjust-steward\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":3},"title":"The Parable of the Unjust Steward","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke 16:1-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many find this parable confusing because of the praise of the lord in verse 8. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How is it that an unfaithful steward, about to be relieved of his position, gains praise from his employer when he ends his career stealing more from him? II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3958,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-the-parable-of-the-unjust-steward-in-luke-161-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":4},"title":"Can you explain the Parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16:1-9?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I was reading Luke 16 last night and am having some trouble comprehending what Jesus meant when He said in verse 8 and 9, \"For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62444,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fault-finding\/","url_meta":{"origin":50751,"position":5},"title":"Fault Finding","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Thessalonians 5:11-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The golden rule - Romans 13:9-10 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Much of our life is involved in relating to other people. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We need the cooperation of others in so many ways. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And so many people are just plain hard to get along with. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s laws\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n