To some degree, it's part of a legacy.
Donna and I were visiting my brother's family in Knoxville last weekend. Over breakfast with my brother, Andy, I saw expressions that were pure "Pop" - the label we gave my dad in his old age. We talked a little about how much we are growing to look like my dad as we age. It's part of a legacy.
Later that day, I started really considering the legacy we are gifted with as children, then parents and now grand parents. My dad left a greater legacy to his two boys than just stunning good looks.
I have two frames on my office bookshelf that have keepsakes from my dad. Both frames contain pages from a Bible he carried through battles in World War II. When we found the Bible, after my dad died, it was beyond repair. I was able to salvage these pages that are now preserved in glass frames along with a snapshot.
One of the pages records, in sequence, the places he fought in the South Pacific as a World War II Marine. The locations include the Marshall Islands, Saipan, and Okinawa. I don't know why he kept this record. It may be that he thought the recording would end before the war was over and it would help his family understand where he had been, what he had seen and what he had been part of. More likely, as a Christian, it was a constant reminder of God's protection and grace. Again, it's part of his legacy.
After the war, my dad went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where he received his theological education and met my mom. They graduated, were married and went to Venezuela as missionaries, where the snapshot was taken.
The snapshot is a picture of my dad, somewhere out in the wilds of Venezuela, standing with two other men. They are wearing dress slacks, shirts and ties and have their Bibles in hand. It's obvious that they were out there doing evangelism - what he was trained for and gifted in. Pop was never at a loss to speak to anyone about God or his relationship with God's Son, Jesus. More legacy.
After my parents returned from Venezuela, they had a full life of pastoral ministry at five churches in Wisconsin, Indiana, South Carolina, Michigan and California. They retired in the mid-1980's to Greenville, SC where he took a part-time job at a small Presbyterian church helping the Sr. Pastor by teaching, preaching, and visiting the parishioners.
Donna and I moved to Greenville, in 1991. We had lots of good reasons to move to Greenville, but two of the primary reasons were to be near my mom and dad as they aged and to have our kids close to their grandparents. I don't think we had the word "legacy" in mind at the time, but we had a strong desire for their influence on our kids.
We began attending a large Presbyterian church and after a short time, my dad decided they should attend there too. You had to know my dad, he had no patience for people who "church hopped," but he gave himself an exception to be near his grandchildren.
It wasn't long before he was fully involved in ministry again, visiting the sick, shut-ins, Sr. citizens and teaching Sunday School. He continued to minister actively until he was nearly 85 and could no longer drive. Hardly a week goes by without someone at church telling me how much they appreciated him visiting them in the hospital or their home and encouraging them in some way.
My point is simple - He had a full and fruitful life and ministry. He had lots of friends and a "flock" that he faithfully shepherded. He was building a legacy. I doubt he ever really thought in those terms, but this legacy was an unavoidable byproduct of his life.
Last Sunday I got a look, not a glimpse, but a panoramic view of that legacy.
We were in Knoxville, TN to see some missionaries "commissioned" (church-speak for "formally sent") by a church to the foreign mission field. These are vocational, full-time foreign missionaries. They are all three brothers, Andrew, Alex and Aaron Halbert. Andrew already working in Costa Rica, Alex headed to South Africa and Aaron to Honduras. You could say it's the family business - they are the three sons of my brother & sister in law, Andy & Renee Halbert, who were missionaries in Honduras and the grandsons of Paul & Dorothy Halbert who were missionaries in Venezuela.
On the way home I was considering the statistical probability of that event taking place on the same day with those three brothers, none of whom live in Knoxville. I'm sure it's astronomical.
Two remarks from the morning service keep bouncing around in my head. The first was from the Senior Pastor, who stated that it was an unprecedented event to see three boys in the same family headed out simultaneously to foreign missions. It is becoming rare to see anyone in our culture making this choice, let alone three brothers completing their educations, raising support and being approved to leave at the same time.
The second remark was meant to be humorous but screamed "legacy!" The church's resident missionary said, "If Andy and Renee had a few more children they could have fulfilled the great commission on their own."
For those of you unfamiliar with it, "the great commission" was direction by Jesus Christ to His followers. It's recorded in the Bible in a biography of Jesus written by one of His disciples, a guy named Matthew. Matthew was present when Jesus said it and it was important enough for him to write it down because the direction was to all of Jesus' followers. You could call it inspired writing.
Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
This is the legacy of a faithful man, a battle hardened Marine, who God called out of battle and sent to do ministry. These young men and their families are obeying the "Great Commission" because their dad obeyed. Their dad saw it modeled by their Grandfather, because his Heavenly Father chose him and called him to ministry.
I'm not someone who believes people in heaven get to look down and observe the rest of us as we live our daily lives. But if my dad has that privilege, I know he would enjoy the view.
Legacy!
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