SENT

A Living Legacy

My mother and dad in 2011

After more than a half dozen years of attempting to live on two continents separated by 10,000 miles, I've concluded that it is filled with challenges.  My wife, Pam, says that only from a distance does it look like an adventure.

One of the things that makes the continuing transcontinental transitions easy to embrace, in spite of the challenges, is knowing that whoever has ownership has responsibility.  God owns me and He can send me wherever He pleases. I've known for most of the time I've lived in Uganda that God sent me there.  But, it was only this year that I realized He was also sending me back to the United States.  With this new found reality I started looking for His reasons for sending me home.  Here is one that I discovered.


My mother is 91 years old and my father is 90.  My father is one of my heroes.  He is a man of strong conviction and devotion to God.  I possess a strong spiritual inheritance from him and my mother.  Both of them are in pretty good physical condition ... which may have a meaning of its own at their age ... but, they have wearied of weekly grocery shopping and preparing meals after all these years.  My older sister and I have been attempting to take an evening meal to their house each week and share the evening with them.  This connection with them has given me a renewed appreciation for who they are and how they have used their lives.  I was sent back the United States to minister to my parents through relationship.

Enjoying the blessing of my father

My dad's life motivates me.  It encourages me. We are all physically terminal, as far as I know, but for our short blip of existence on the scope of time and space we are free to use our lives as we chose.  I can say with Paul, the Apostle, that even before I was born, God chose me and called me by His marvelous grace.  Then it pleased Him to reveal His Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the next generation of Ugandans.  (based on Galatians 1:15-16)

Grant me a little blogger license as I indulge myself with a personal desire.  Not long after returning to the United States I sensed a desire to develop a video tribute to my father.  The video that is part of this blog may not mean all that much to many of you readers.  But, it will mean something to my dad as it expresses my love, honor, and respect for him and the way he chose to live his life.  And, I believe it will please my heavenly Father who originated the value and venue of the critical father/son relationship.  And that is enough motivation for me.  Click on the link to watch my video if you are interested.

In about 40 days I will make yet another transition half way around the world as the Father sends me there to demonstrate the superiority of the Family, governed by Him, over the orphanage and its debilitating mindset. I will go with the desire that every person discover fulfillment in being a son of God.  I love the legacy left by the Apostle Paul among the Gentiles during his day.  "And they praised God because of me."  (Galatians 1:24)  By His grace I trust this will also be my legacy.