RetirementDavid Neunuebel,
senior vice president, Investments

It’s an interesting concept … until you do it.

To say the least, it was a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I began my career in the financial services industry.

There have been, of course, many clients along the way but also a lot of associates.

This reminds me of a sermon Channing Smith, our rector at All Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church, shared on All Saints Day (Nov. 1, 2024).

He began, “This is our feast day. And I’d like to talk about encouragement today. The encouragement we receive and how we might encourage others. I love All Saints Sunday. I love it for the hope it gives us. I love it for the life it connects us to. All Saints Sunday happens at a time of the year when cultures around the world discern this. In Mexico, there is the celebration of Dia de los Muertos.”

He continued with this story.

I heard a brilliant description of this from Father Mike Schmitz, a Roman Catholic priest. He tells a story to illustrate laying aside all that holds us back and to be encouraged by this heavenly presence of witnesses that is in each of our lives. He talks about running an IronMan race in British Columbia. To complete an IronMan race, you must swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a full marathon. The competitors have the full day to complete that distance, but they have to finish by midnight or else they are listed as DNF, “did not finish.” It would be as if you didn’t run the race at all.

Competitors who finish early go back to their hotel rooms, shower and then come back to cheer the finishers on. Father Mike had finished his race, showered and came back to the end point of the race at 10pm to cheer those who were just crossing the finish line. He could hear the announcer call each finisher by name and congratulating them. People cheering each one as they crossed the finish line and completed this heroic journey. Starting six miles out, the crowd starts to build up and line the streets; within the last mile the crowd is several people deep.

For this particular race, the finish takes a left-hand turn at the very end and, as the competitors take this turn, there are bleachers of people cheering them on.

It had been a long day. Father Mike said that the race was coming to a close. It is around 11:45 at night and the race manager gets on the speaker and says, “We just got word that there is a finisher who is two miles out.” It is 11:45. There are 15 minutes to go, and he is two miles out. To finish the last two miles in 15 minutes would mean running 7:30 per min. miles. This is difficult to do on fresh legs. But this guy had just swum 2.4 miles, ridden 112 miles and now is two miles from running a marathon. Not going to happen. The announcer says, “let's bring him in.”

People in the bleachers start filing out and began running down the course to cheer him on. The announcer gets on the loudspeaker again seven minutes later and says, “We just got word that he is a mile out.” That meant he ran the last mile in seven minutes. More people get out to encourage him. More people file out and run down the course to cheer this guy on. The time is ticking by and ticking by. And you are wondering will this guy make it. If it is after midnight, he will receive a DNF. It will be as if he never ran the race.

At 11:59, Father Mike looks down the course and at that left-hand turn, he began to hear this dull roar. He looks down the corner and he sees this guy coming around it and sprinting as fast as he can, leaning in with everything he has. And behind him, there is a wall of people, an army, hundreds of people, who had already run their race, running to cheer him on. Now they couldn’t run the race for him, but they are cheering him on in the race he is running. Everyone is watching the clock and the sounds of the cheers from the crowd are deafening.

He crosses the finish line at 11:59 and 47 seconds. Thirteen seconds from not finishing at all. Everyone is hugging and everybody is crying.

In Hebrews it states, “Therefore we are surrounded by a great a cloud of witnesses. Let us run the race that is set before us.”

It’s impossible to name everyone who is in my great cloud of witnesses, those still with us and those who have passed on. But to be sure, I wouldn’t be here without them all and know that you are one of them. Would that you would all continue to be saints to others.

David

PS. Remember, I’m not going to Mars; I’m just not going to the office as of June 1, 2025. Judy and I simply needed time in our lives without work.