Legacy

I just spent the weekend with the middle schoolers from our church. This weekend was Breakthrough, a in town retreat that brings the middle schoolers together...the incoming 6th graders for the first time. It was a great weekend. Michael, you planned well and brought your enthusiasm to the rest of us. Sarah, your talks blew me away. Jeremiah, thanks for bringing energy to worship. Bubbas, you worked hard and it paid off. Foy, thanks for the good food. Group leaders, those kids have been changed.
Let me tell you about the best part of the weekend....a tree. The tree was assembled by the bubbas and the parts were made by the middle schoolers. The roots were made of long butcher paper and written on that paper was a timeline...a timeline of all the people in their pasts that have influenced their spiritual journeys....including people from the Bible. These papers were scrunched into long roots for the tree. The tree was made of a real cedar trunk....peeled a little so the kids could write on it. This trunk represented the legacy of Jesus. The kids wrote on the trunk...words that describe the legacy of Jesus. Those people who are walking our journey with us now are the branches. The leaves on the tree were handprints of each of the kids with those people's names written on them that had influenced their journey. It looked kind of like a jungle when they were done. Such an incredible illustration!!!
We went outside for communion and planted a tree by an entrance to the church. We took communion together around the tree.
I know that those kids will always remember making that tree together and planting the real tree at the end of the weekend.
I am so blessed to be a part of this church family.

This song called Legacy was used this weekend. It is by Nichole Nordeman and you should listen to it sometime if you have never heard it...Amazing and honest.


I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me
And I enjoy an accolade like the rest
You could take my picture and hang it in a gallery
Of all who's who and so-n-so's that used to be the best
At such'n'such ... it wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights
We all need an 'Atta boy' or 'Atta girl'
But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides
The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile
To make a lengthly list of all that I enjoy
It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile
Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred
Just want to hear instead, "Well Done" good and faithful one...