I'm writing this as I am driving down the long winding roads of Wisconsin. My rock star wife is in the drivers seat and we are on our way to my new job as high school pastor in Bismarck, ND. It's really exciting to be moving into this awesome new chapter of our lives, but I'm also caught reflecting on the times we had back in Illinois for the year or so that we were there.

Our last few days in the area were spent hanging out with lots of junior high and high school students. We received numerous cards and letters from all kinds of students telling us how we have impacted them. It was really hard not to cry after each one. It was amazing to see how Jesus had worked through us to leave a legacy in their lives. What a privilege!

So as I reflect on our legacy, here are the 3 Lessons I Learned After I Left a Legacy:

1. Most of the time, you never know how deep you have made it into someone's heart until separation causes them to share it with you. So do your best to be a positive example in everything you say and do. A few days before we left, we had a party to which we invited every student in the youth group. And some of the students that came we students I didn't remember every really getting to know that well. But as students began to share with us the impact we had left in their lives, I can only remember being so amazed at how God had worked. I honestly didn't remember ever saying anything important to some of them. But God allowed us to go deeper into their hearts than I ever imagined.
2. You can never quantify the legacy you have left. So never give up on someone who seems "hard to get to." One particular student comes to mind when I write this. He was that kid who always hung out in the back of the crowd during the songs chatting it up with his friends. He never seemed to be serious about the Lord. His dad even confided in me that he has had numerous conversations with him to try to get him serious about Jesus, school, or even work. But it seemed that he was a "dead end." Nothing seemed to get to him. But when I opened up my home to have a Bible study, he was one of the most faithful attenders. And out of nowhere - it seemed - this student began to get hungry for the Word. And a hunger like that is hard to put a number on. I only pray that Jesus continues to increase that hunger. Time will only tell, but he might be the next Hudson Taylor, and go anywhere God calls him.
3. You never know how your legacy is perceived. So make it as much like Jesus as you can. This story doesn't actually come from my time in youth ministry, but from my time working in the secular environment. I ran a coffee shop on the west side of Chicago for the last year an a half. One of the women who worked for me was Ana. She was a single mom from Guatemala, and she only worked for me for the last month or so that I was there. But on one of my last days there, she said to me, "I'm not a Christian, but my dad is a pastor and he works a secular job along side that. And though I'm not into that sort of thing, I admire him a lot. I know it's probably not the 'Christian' thing to say, but already I can sense this aura around you just like my dad. It makes me feel at ease." And as the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:15-17, this "aura" about us is Christ's presence in us, and is noticeable to both God and other people. And I am so grateful that God worked in me to make that "aura" obvious to Ana so that she could feel comfortable around knowing that I was a follower of Jesus.

What about you?

What kind of legacy are you leaving? And what are you doing today to make your "aura" more like Christ?

   On Sunday, November 25th, the Grandmother Hall of Fame saw the passing of one of its foremost members. Louise Cole entered the unhindered presence of the Lord, and left us all missing her terribly.





   When I think of my grandma, many things come to mind. When she would wrap Christmas gifts, she would always hide the names of the recipients somewhere in the designs of the wrapping paper. My brother and I were the designated ones to find the names and distribute the gifts. Also on Christmas, she would always get me a new nutcracker (to add to my enromous collection). On New Year's day, we would always go to her house to watch college football and eat chili that she had prepared. It was at grandma's house that my brother and watched our first Saturday morning cartoons. It was at grandma's house that we first watched The Prestige and Miracle while eating a huge bowl of popcorn and drinking Diet Coke (a favorite of hers). I remember the time when she was about to tear off the head of the umpire who botched a call and made us lose our Little League District Final game. It took everything in my mom's persuasive power to calm her down. She was always our biggest fan. As my brother notes, there were only ever two people he could hear as he was playing, my dad and my gandma. I remember all the times she would take my brother and I to horse pulls in Northern Michigan. It was her goofy way of celebrating the fact that she could see us again after her winter in Florida.



   It was not subtle to anyone that she loved my brother an I, her only two grandchildren. As my grandpa told me today, "You and Benjamin are really the only reasons that grandma wanted to go on living at all. Otherwise, she was anxious to leave this world. She wanted to be with her precious Savior. She wanted to go 'home.'" That was another thing that was not subtle in her life; she was always anxious to meet Jesus face to face. In the songs she played, in the hymns she sung, in the words she spoke, in the letters she wrote us, she displayed an eagerness to be in perfect fellowship with the Lord. That legacy was passed on to us. When I think of her death, I am not overcome with grief. Yes, I do miss her a lot. But I am eternally happy for her. She is better off than all of us. She is experiencing the culmination of her salvation: glorification. It was an eternal joy when she was justified. There was rejoicing in the heavenly court. It was evident to the world to see her her sanctification unfold. But now, as I write, she can finally rest in the fulfillment and culmination of her salvation, the fact that she is completely freed from the presence of sin. Not only that, because her sin has been removed, and Christ's righteous record applies to her, she is granted complete and perfect access to the presence of God with out fear or shame. And in this, I am very happy for her.

   In the wake of her death, I am not angry at God for taking her from me. And I am not overwhelmed with my own finity, though it does come closer to home now. Instead, however, I yearn to leave a legacy of love and faithfulness only half as well as she did. I want to make every moment count. I want to live my purpose all the way to the end. And when I finish this race, I desire with everything in me to hear the Savior say, "Well done."

   P.S. Give Jesus a hug from me, Weezie.