What I left behind

My college mentor and professor is getting ready to retire at the end of this Spring semester and this has drawn up quite a few memories for me.  I have thought about the four years I spent at Concordia University-Texas and all  of the memories tied to that campus.  Some of them are quite good, some of them, well…not so much.

I spent a fair amount of time learning this or that…but I spent a great deal more goofing off, building friendships (one of which led to a marriage to my beautiful wife), and causing a little mischief too.  It has only just hit me recently what I left behind.

When I talk to friends from college, its about the “good ole days” when we used to hang out, or we would go to our friends’ concert (they were in a country band), or what we did to pass the time on a weekend.  Its not very often that we remember the conversations about our faith and belief that we had on countless occasions.  Maybe there were so many that it became a mundane part of our college life- most of us were studying for some form of work in the Church.

But, I realize now how much more important those conversations were than all of the other memories I have from college.  Unfortunately, that’s not what I often left behind in the minds of others.  I can’t go back and change that.  Nor would I ever change anything from my college years except maybe telling my wife I loved her a lot sooner.

As I consider my Family legacy this week, I wonder what people will remember of me now, what will I leave behind.  What will you leave behind?  Will it be good times and funny stories and nothing else?  Or will conversations of our risen Christ show up in the mix too?

Here’s what happened this week…

Family Connection-April 8

What is a Legacy?

For the young adults…

Crossing the River

What is a legacy?

“What do you want your headstone to say?”  “What would you want people to say about you at your funeral?”

Those have always been the questions I’ve heard people ponder when the idea of a legacy comes up.  The answer is generally centered on how one led a good life, or a godly life.  While, this is might be a good way to start the conversation, I would invite you to take a deeper look at this issue.

Consider with me for a second the words of Joshua 24: 14-15.  We’ve the a few of the words from the passage on many walls in many homes.  And they are great words to post.  But, I think we often forget why they are so important.

Joshua has led the people into the Promised Land, and Land they had desired since God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12.  This was the moment they were waiting for.  Joshua leads them to choose…will they follow the ways of the Land they are taking hold of, or will they continue to follow the ways of God.  It was their decision to make, for the sake of their families and the nation of Israel.

This isn’t a decision many parents are willing to make for their children.  They let them decide whether they want to go to church, whether they want to do this or do that.  Yes, there is a point when a parent can no longer “decide” for their child.  But, I think we have let society lower that age every year.

What is your family legacy going to be-that you let your children decide to follow God, or that you, as their parent jubilantly say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”?

God’s love and mercy is not dependent on how strictly you raise your children, or how often you don’t fail and choose God above everything else in this world.  He has already laid out your salvation in His Son Jesus Christ.  That is what we just celebrated at Easter.  But, it is now our time to tell our families, to tell our households, to tell those around us what God has done for us in Christ Jesus and to serve Him in the freedom He has now won for us.

I will boldly proclaim, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”  It is my prayer that you will join us.

 

Here’s the new Family Connection-April 8 for this week.