Bombs and Legacies

Last week Tommy, Raegan and I went to town to run church errands, this is pretty normal activity for us; we have to drive the 20 minutes to "town" at least once a week. Well last week we went to a bookstore we had never been to before in a part of town that we rarely visit. Not that it is a bad part of town or anything there is just not much over there that we need. Anyway right across the street from the bookstore there was a lot of activity buzzing around. There were police cars, news crews, fire trucks, an ambulance, and the whole area was roped off with caution tape. We were interested in what was happening, but we could not really tell what was going on. We proceeded to go into the bookstore and look around for about 20 minutes, and we found nothing we needed. Then when we were leaving the activity across the street heightened, people were running around and closing in on some one or something. We still couldn't see enough to know what was going on and we were finished over there so we left to continue with the errands at hand. Not till later that night did we see on the news, which we rarely ever watch, that there had been a bomb in a mail drop box, in thatparking lot. It was one of several that have been found in East Texas in the last few weeks. I don't think any of them actually blew up, thanks to the careful attention of the law enforcement, but the results could have easily been so terribly different. And 3/5 of my family could have been seriously injured, or worse.

Later that same day I was talking to some one at church and they were telling me about a family member that had been killed in a car wreck last summer. He was in there house talking one minute and the very next he was driving down a wet street when another driver hit a slick spot and slid into him. He was killed instantly. I know that is not what you want to read about on a Tuesday morning or any morning for that matter, but all this got me thinking about death as morbid as that sounds. I am not scared of dying, not scared of the afterlife, and not even scared of the possible pain involved. I have all those covered, actually Jesus has that covered and all I did was accept His gift. The only thing that scares me about dying is that my life will be over, my opportunities past, my song sung. And that will only leave my legacy. Websters defines legacy as, "a gift by will especially of money or other personal property." I doubt I am going to have any money to leave behind or even property for that matter, but I do have the love of God that I can share. I have minutes and days that I can invest in people, and I have gifts that God has given me that I can use for the good of others. If I use all this to the best of my ability for God's glory and people's benefit everyday that God gives me, then I know that I am leaving a legacy that lasts; a legacy more valuable than money, which can be used up, or property that gets old. And the awesome thing is that this kind of legacy will last for ever and ever. As I invest in people's lives, they will in turn invest in some one and then that person in some one else and on and on.

Life is fragile and unpredictable and sometimes unfair; my time on Earth could come to an end anytime, today or in 70 years. There is no way to know! But one thing we can know is that we are not living our lives in vain, wasting our breath and energy on junk that is not going to last, instead we are giving it all we have and our legacies will last forever!

Jesus said "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20)