Eternal relationships...

It's been a great week. The girls are in basketball camp from 9-12 and I am helping with Music and More Camp. We have had some nice afternoons. We spent 5 hours at the pool today with friends. Good stuff. I can't believe there are just 2 1/2 weeks left until school starts! Where has the time gone? We've had a nice summer but there is so much more I wanted to do with them.

I had the privilege of preaching again this last Sunday. It was Legacy Sunday. Kind of like an anniversary or homecoming. Our church was celebrating 126 years, so I was humbled to have the opportunity. I preached on, what else, leaving a legacy. Check it out here, under "Family Tree" http://www.snellvilleumc.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=45125

Like summer days, time passes so quickly and we don't stop to think about what the culmination of our lives will be or what we are leaving behind us, much less what kind of future we are making for our kids, really...I'm really not talking about money, lest you think I am, I am talking about the kind of human beings we are creating with everything we do everyday, but even more than that, the eternal implications of what we do and don't do, say and don't say. Like so many other things we can't just assume that things will take care of themselves. Any kind of life that is to be extraordinarily lived takes vision and intention. What kind of vision do you have for the future? For your children? What are you doing about it? Are you sharing your beliefs, but better than that why you believe them? We have so many opportunities every day to teach, to shape the future, to share the hope of eternity with our Creator. I think I am a pretty wide awake person, but I know I can improve. Even my own message has convicted me of this, not only with my own children but with people in general.

I heard a story third hand today. It was about a man that was once a police officer. He went into the same convenience store every day and saw the same woman. One day he was called to the store because of a shooting and he discovered it was her. He had never asked her name, though he saw her every day, much less shared his faith or beliefs with this person. She laid there bleeding out. He held his hand over the gunshot to stop the bleeding. When the paramedics arrived to take her to the hospital, the medics told him, "be careful, her blood is all over your hands". Well, that was quite a loaded statement. The rest of the story is cool but not necessary to make this point...I hope...