Legacy

Last night the guys in our youth group had an all-night hang out at the church. It was pretty sweet. We ate pizza, watched the Bourne Supremacy, and had a Nerf basketball tournament. I won. We also had an awesome late-night discussion about "legacy." Around the "campfire"-- a candle lit in the center of the room (we were forced to camp inside because of potentially tornadic weather)-- the question was asked, "If you died tonight, how would you be remembered by those closest to you? How about those who aren't as close to you (classmates, co-workers, etc.)?" In effect, the question was, "What would your legacy be?"

This is an extremely valuable question to help followers of Christ assess their ministries. It was convicting to me that my high school classmates, if I were to die today, would probably feel as though they lost a friend from high school who was a nice guy, smart, and a little bit too silly at times. I don't think they would remember me as a man who loved Christ with all his heart and was excitedly devoted to his Savior with all he had. Hopefully, those closer to me now would remember me a little bit nearer to the last description (though I'm still far from it). But what about my college classmates from last year? Or my co-workers? How would they remember me? Is the light of Christ shining bright enough through me that I would even be known as His follower?

These questions are important and convicting. I should revisit them often as my ministry and outreach develops over time. But we must also be careful how our hearts cling to our legacy. I've heard song after song play on Christian radio talking about leaving a legacy. Many pastors and preachers excite their listeners by challenging them to leave a legacy when their time is done on this earth. It seems like a very Christian idea to "leave a legacy of love," right?

So, I looked to see what the Bible hast to say about legacies:
Nothing.

Nothing at all. The word "legacy" is never once used in the NIV, ESV, CEV, or NLT translations of the Bible. Eugene Petersen paraphrased it out of scripture eight times in The Message version. Twice it was used to describe a negative inheritance left by a foolish or lazy person. The other six times he used it to refer to the legacy left by God.

What do I conclude from this? What our actual legacy ends up being is not important if we have lived our lives for the glory of God. It is extremely valuable to consider how boldly we are living out our faith by how those around us will remember us upon our death. Use that as a tool for changing your heart and lifestyle to proclaim the Truth of the Gospel. But do not get caught up in how your name will be remembered.

Life is not about my name on a plaque, how much is in my bank account, the tears and fond memories of family and friends when I die, or my four paragraphs in the obituaries section of the paper. In fact, it's not about ME at all. It's about Yahweh. It's about Jesus Christ. It's about the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of believers around the world.

It's about the legacy of the Gospel. So let's live it out for the glory of our King.

Surrogates

Sam and I were watching that new movie "Surrogates" a few nights ago. It stars Bruce Willis and the basic plot is that like 15 years in the future everyone owns a perfected robot version of themselves that they live through vicariously because they are too self conscious of their physical bodies to interact with anyone. Interesting concept. Not the greatest movie, but it made me think a little.

Anyways, that's not really what this is about. In that movie, one character played the tech geek-dude, and was one of the only people in the film who didn't use a robot surrogate. This is the dude:

Recognize him? I did. Right away for some reason. I "imdb.com-ed" my hunch and, sure enough, I was right! He played a minor character in one of my favorite movies that came out when I was 3 years old. You've seen it. He's changed a ton since then (no pun intended).

Who is he?

Buzz McCallister from the Home Alone movies! Remember?

Don't know why, but I thought this was hilarious.

Paper Towel

Sorry it's been like a month since I've posted. Finding time to write is a challenge, but it's worth making time tonight.

So, my wife and I were sitting one our futon catching up on the latest episode of LOST (only 1 episode left, forever!) online when there was a knock on our door. It was like 9:00pm and we weren't expecting anyone. I looked through the peephole and could see that our screen door was open but there was no one standing there. Thinking that was a tad shady, curiosity won out over protectiveness and I opened the door.

I'm glad I did, because God answered prayer.

Standing at the door was this little African-American girl named Ester. She's in 3rd grade and lives in an apartment across the street with her mom (who is pregnant with twins!) and her little brother and little sister. She said, "Is Sam here? I have a note to give her."

When Sam got to the door, Ester handed her a note written in black marker on a paper towel (we don't know who Angie or Jackie are, but that adds to the fun):

The funny thing is, we barely know Ester. Sam met her a year ago when we first moved into our apartment. Ester was sitting on the curb by our carport and Sam introduced herself for a few seconds. Every time Ester saw Sam after that, she remembered her name and waved at us. The only reason we can think of that she gave Sam this note is because she sees Christ in her. We have never had a conversation that lasted more than a minute or two, and those are few and far between.

Here is the coolest part. Just last night we had a meeting for our summer Vacation Bible School program at church. A big part of VBS is the opportunity for outreach to the community around Grand, which Ester happens to live in. We often see her and her siblings playing outside and they have been on our heart for nearly a year. Last night, I specifically prayed that God would give us an opportunity to share the light of Christ with Ester and her siblings through the VBS program!

God answers prayer.

Praise God for the way He has worked in and through my wife so that a child is drawn to the light of Christ shining through her. It is DEFINITELY not anything we have done. The glory and credit is God's alone. He is majestic and mysterious. How fun it is to get a small glimpse into the way He is working all around us!

Anyways, Sam gave Ester some cookies to take back to her family, and we're hoping this will open the door to invite them to church and VBS. Please pray that God will reveal Himself to that family. VBS is June 13th-17th, please pray for that also. We are asking God for 75+ kids this year--

And God answers prayer.

Another baseball video

My wife showed me this. Maybe you've seen it. Pretty sweet. I always dreamed about doing this in little league, but I didn't get on base much and never had the ups to make this kind of a play happen.



Does it match the play in this post?

Laughing Gravy

Sam and I are taking our youth group to something called Challenge 2010 this summer. It's an E-Free conference for high schoolers in Columbus, Ohio. It also features missions opportunities for our kids, including church plants in more "un-churched" parts of the city. I'm excited.

Anyways, we are doing some fund-raising to go. Last Sunday for youth group we played "Bigger & Better". To play, the group divided into three teams and we drove them around Ames from door to door, wherever they wanted to go. The teams each started with a quarter and, as they went door to door, asked if the resident has anything "bigger and better" to trade for a quarter. You keep trading up and up and so on, but many people just give us stuff they have lying around rather than trades us for something else they don't really want. We played the game for an hour. Tomorrow after church, the youth group will auction off the items we collected, as well as some other items donated by church members.

Here's a picture of what the three teams acquired:

Some of the acquisitions: chandelier, karaoke machine, stereo, 2 kites, wheel ramps, size 12 shoes, a tiny chair, a microwave, and lots of other miscellaneous stuff.

Oh yeah, and here's the kicker.You can barely see it, but on the right side of the picture there is a rudder and a box holding a sail for this bad boy:

Yep, we traded it for a quarter. Trailer included. Good job girls' team. We'll be selling it tomorrow after church, in anyone needs a sailboat.

The boat's name is the best part:

Keyboard Drums

This is one cool cat.

Watch the whole thing... pretty sweet.

The best play of the year on opening day?

Incredible.



Thanks, Martin Kalkwarf, for the vine.