This afternoon I spent several hours with a family planning a memorial service for a dear family member. I have done this hundreds of times, but each time it makes me reflective...how do I want to be remembered when I'm gone? What "marks in the sand" do I want to leave behind? I know the memory of my life by others is limited to two, maybe three generations at best. What will they remember? How will my life affect their lives? What difference will I make on planet earth?
One of the passions of my life has brought me great teasing from those who know me. I'm often teased by my passion for the bible....not because I read it (I do read it, but that's another story), but because of how many bibles I own. I collect bibles like some collect coins. It's become a topic of humor around the church, but if that's what I'm known for (in part) then I am thrilled with that. I love the word of God, not just owning it, but reading it. I read it because in it I find God revealed. I know him through the word, and since I want to know him I spend time in his word. It's the word that transforms my mind, and believe me...it needs to be transformed!
So, how do I want to be remembered? I would love to be known as a Godly man who loved the word of God. I would love to be known as someone passionate to know God, and one who invested his life to pursue him. I would love to be remembered as a man conformed to the image of Christ......I'm working on that now. I won't arrive in this lifetime, but I'm on the path, I have the map and a passion to know God....and one day my journey will be complete and my goal achieved.
3 comments:
I didn't know that about you (the Bible affinity). Where have I been???
I have quite a collection of different Bible translations. Craig laughs at me. But that's ok, they all come in useful for one study or another.
I think Howard Hendricks says you should go through a Bible a year (or so?? I can't remember) because you are studying it and marking it all up. Then you can start again and write down your new insights in a fresh copy. I have a Ryrie that I used for about 5-6 years and the pages are a mess. I have a New Inductive Study Bible that I've had for about 3 years now and am really having fun marking it up and loving the wide margins! But sometimes I miss my old Ryrie - it's like an old friend! (Both are NASB)
I guess I hope that one day my boys will want all my "observations" and notes in my Bibles. I have my grandfather's Bible and I read from it at his funeral - I read the only passage he had highlighted.
I want to be remembered for being kept by Him. I find that word absolutely thrilling on so many different levels.
I loved this post. Thanks especially for your heart shared and the pic.
Hi Mike! What a great and special thing to collect. I've got several from different family members from over the years and a few different translations but I hadn't thought about specifically collecting them. We could start a bible collectors group. . .looks like Lori could really contribute!!
Anyway. . .on "Being Remembered" I thought you might enjoy this quote from Pericles. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” I think the quote has a great message and it's irony is interesting as well. He had a strong interest in architecture and the arts and was responsible for starting most of the architectural projects that turned out much of the existing architecture in Athens today.
As far as how you will be remembered, I can only imagine how those closest to you will remember you when in the few years I've known you from church and the few times we've had conversations in the past year I think you exemplify Pericles' quote. You are a blessing to our church family and, no doubt, a blessing to your family. Thank you (AND JOYE!!)for the conversation on the phone a week or so ago. I will have to share with you in more detail how your words (and Joye's in the background :) Hee! Hee!) encouraged me. I completely LOVED (and have repeated numerous times sine then) the story of your Ukranian friend who couldn't get a bible. It was one of those great "AHA Moments"! Isn't it amazing how those are usually the ones to hit you over the head and you seem to think "Duh. . .I knew that, didn't I??"
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