Something old, someone new...

On Thursday, May 1, 2014, we received two deliveries.

The first was a package generously provided by my sister; filled with carefully prepared and lovingly packed treasures from the life I've lived--and was lived before me.  A tapestry of  dreams, tenderness, ambition, hard work, disappointment and triumph woven through photos, cards, letters and other memorabilia.  It contained a narrative of my past.

The second was a person, fearfully and wonderfully made, named "Gabriella Grace" and delivered by our lovely daughter-in-law, Miranda, coached by our son Joseph.  "G" arrived at 11.10pm, weighed 7'10 and was just over 20" long.  She, along with our children and our grandsons and God willing, our greats...are my future.

Legacies are brittle.  Soak that in for a few moments...
I am grateful that I can look back, look around and dream about the future.
I am grateful that I have a sense of where I'm from, where I've been and who I've become. 

I am grateful that in this moment I can continue to shape character and destiny.

My story was shaped--altered, when at age 15, I made a choice to embrace Christ and believe His story.  He took my brokenness, yes even at age 15, and built me into a man whose heart's desire is to be like my savior, Jesus.  Laura, our children, know all too well the difficulty we've faced as a family and my shortcomings as a man, a husband and a father.

Here's my point: it's these challenges, these failures that add strength and color to legacies--that will give my grands and great-grands the "roots" to make choices which will empower them to continue to shape character and destiny; to build bridges from their past to a solid Christ-centered future.

Indeed..."All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life..." 41 years with Laura; our children Erin and Joseph; their spouses Matthew and Miranda; our grandchildren, Braden, Kellen and now Gabriella.

Something old, someone new.  Legacies are brittle.  Lean into Christ.