Reunions, Transitions, and the Purposeful Narratives of our Lives

Alumni Connect with Brian Rapske

When I showed up at the third decadal high school reunion for our graduating class (I’d missed the first two), someone came up to me and enthused, “Rapske, great to see you; we thought you were dead!” Everyone around us laughed.

 

That’s so ‘high school!’ But it’s nice to feel ‘welcomed.’

 

Time had treated most of us kindly and it wasn’t hard to connect names with faces. For others, however, it would have taken miraculous feats of memory and intuition to make the connections. I was probably not the only one glad to have the lapel tags each of us wore sporting our name and grad picture. (But could you please make them bigger and not so grainy next time!)

 

I had a lot of fun. In fact, so much so, I’ve attended both subsequent decadal reunions. God willing, I’ll make the next one.

 

High school reunions are wonderful for “remembering back when.” But they’re also an opportunity to lay down longer relational tracks that allow us to catch up beyond the educational commonalities. The two biggest questions at the three reunions were, “What have you been up to since high school/our last reunion?” and “What’s next for you?” To answer them, you need to reflect on what has been the narrative of your life so far, assert your purposeful determinations for the chapter currently in progress, and exercise imagination regarding what is yet unwritten.

 

The most compelling personal narratives, I found, were disarmingly honest and uncompetitively told.

 

I would say, ahead of a reunion, it’s a great time for us as followers of Jesus to answer those questions with our faith in view and to nurture a prayerful, heightened sensitivity for God-given moments respectfully to enthuse about His Kingdom as we “tell all.”

 

Beyond high school and other kinds of reunions, answering those same questions would certainly be a rewarding preparation ahead of a Northwest Baptist Theological College and Seminary reunion! The resulting fellowship would be very deep indeed, and would probably lead to worship and mutual prayer, given that we’re God’s called ones and in His sovereign hands at every moment.

 

It would also seem to be a wise Christian discipline for individuals generally at any of life’s mileposts and change points to answer those questions.

 

Me? Well, it’s mileposts and change points pretty much everywhere I look just now.

 

I’m recently retired from NBTCS after 25 wonderful years of teaching. People have been asking, “What’s next?” I’ve got some ideas, but they’re a bit fuzzy just now. So, I’ve decided to sharpen my focus by doing a second readthrough of R. Paul Stevens’ Aging Matters: Finding your calling for the rest of your life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016). It’s a very helpful little book, by the way!

 

My wife, Rita, and I are almost at the first anniversary of moving out of our house of 30 years in a neighborhood where we knew everyone. We’ve scaled down and now live in a unit on the 39^th floor of a high rise and have started from scratch with the new neighbors. The change from horizontal to vertical living is very big!

 

We’ve also become brand-new, first-time grandparents. We’re back on our knees: singing lullabies, giving cuddles, playing, and offering simple prayers to God after which baby says, “MayMen!”

 

It's high time again to think hard and answer the questions: What have we been up to so far? And what’s next?

 

Please God, help Rita and me with answers that will honor you.