Just when you thought...

This news clip was on the AP site this morning.Pittsburgh- "James Henry Smith loved his country. He served in Vietnam and spent 25 years in the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard. But the 55-year-old Garfield man also had love for his favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers -- and that led to an unusual viewing after he died from prostate cancer this week. Smith's family asked the Samuel E. Coston Funeral Home in Lincoln-Lemington to place his body not in a casket, but in a recliner that faced a television playing Steelers highlights. In Smith's hand was a remote control. He was dressed in black and gold Steelers clothing, and a team blanket was draped over one of the chair's armrests." http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/WCVB/20050706/lo_wtae/2811550

An amazing legacy, isn't it? A man whose passion in life is a professional football team and whose family chooses, as their last visual image of him, having him sitting in a recliner, holding a remote control, in front of a TV playing game highlights. I just shake my head in disbelief on that one. I hope I do a little better in the legacy department than that. How about you?

I've been a little pensive this week, today marking my 50th birthday. A half century of years brings interesting things to my life... a balding head, grandchildren, a wife who looks 20 years younger than I, being a sage to some (and a fool to some, too!), and increasing thoughts of legacy.

It's a cliché but none the less true for me: only yesterday I was a young guy, full of visions, trying to manage a small rambunctious family, and working out the implications of the will of God for my life. I am very thankful today that my regrets are few and my memories are abundantly pleasant. It is neither wisdom nor luck that has brought me to this place, but rather the goodness of the Lord. What a graceful God that directs my steps. I have not received what I deserved! I revel in His mercies, pour out my thanks for His favor, and wonder at His love.

Paul's words express my aim for the rest of the trip, however long that may be, God helping me by His Spirit: "I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! (I heard that amen!) But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.
... I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing:Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven." (Philippians 3:12-14, NLT)

If my family chose to display my body after my death (which I hope they don't!) I would want to be on my knees looking upward towards Heaven! My passion is to love Him and, hopefully, to cause others to love Him, too. It would a fine legacy to be known simply as one who loved Jesus with his whole heart and who lived to please the God of Heaven.

What's legacy are you building today?
Have you set your sights high?
It's a rather unpleasant thought, but if your family chose to have your final visual presentation as the representation of your passion - what would the tableau look like?

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.
Let's commit to living to the full, choosing wisely, with God's help, so that when all is summed up, we will be able to say,
"And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return."
(2 Timothy 4:8, NLT)