A legacy

This morning I went to a memorial celebration service for a friends father. I had met this man a few times and had good conversations but that wasn't the only reason I went. I attended this service to to honor this man and the impact that he had indirectly on my life. Many of the people that I am close to were mentored and shaped by this man. The service was interesting and good (if you can say that about a memorial service). He was not old and his death was totally unexpected if not untimely. But the service was bitersweet. There was lots of crying and there will be mourning for sure, but the service was about remembering his incredible life and the fact that he was with God now.

Throughout the service many people came up to the front and told of his impact on them. He would spend hours praying with them, helping them, encouraging them listening to them and walking alongside them. He made many of these people his family. Each one of these testimonies were from people I didn't know but they matched everything I had heard from my close friends. Many of my close friends actually couldn't be there today because they are overseas doing missions work. I couldn't help but think about how he was part of the reason they were over there in the first place.

While I was sitting there celebrating the life while mourning the loss of this hero of the faith, it renewed my resolve to live like he did. He may have died at an age they people may feel was young, he lived life to the full. Its not the quantity of time but rather the quality of the time that we spend here.

His transition may be hard on us down here, but for him it was minor. He lived with Christ here and graduated to the next phase of that. He still lives with Christ (only now he gets to see him face to face).

His life was lived for others and his legacy truly truly lives on. That is said at many memorials but his life was saturated with this legacy. I know this because people talked about it before his death. If you knew this guy and his name came up, you would immediately have to interject the impact he had on your life into the conversation.

Those are just three principles that I learned and reaffirmed my commitment to today. This mans life was more than a few principles though. So much more. Lord, thank you for loaning him to us for a couple decades. We were richly blessed by your gift.