Leaving a Legacy

I know I want to do this... I know some aspects... and I know I want it to be me-specific... is that bad? What does it mean to leave a legacy? how much of it is your family? How much is it like getting published or something...


I took this picture (unlike almost all of the others... taken by my wife). I love my daughter, she is such a trip...

reflect

So, this picture is about relflection (The thing I'm bad at). We also took a picture of our feet: one set very small, one a woman's size six, one a man's size 10... Very fun picture...

But, this one is about my most powerful calling: my family...

What do you wish you reflected more upon

Anthony Campolo

If you went to my high school, his name might conjure up a bad image but I love his stuff. he uses the same analogies (largely from his own life) over and over and so what - they're great analogies (like throwing a birthdy party for a hooker he had just met)...

Anyway, one of his talks is based loosely on the three things people who live to be over 100 years old wish tey had done differently...

Risk, Reflect, and leave more of a legacy for when they are gone...


How do you do at those three things? I think I am good at the first, awful at the second, and consistently thinking about the third...

This picture is in honor of taking risks...

Saving, redemption, or Psalm 8???

So, that is not me, but I did catch two fish like that one (and one small shark), fishing the other day off of Amelia Island in Florida. That large fish, a tarpon, does fight a lot and the second one (maybe a shade over 100 pounds) made me walk around the boat 12 times before he was tired enough for me to pull him in and pull out the hook.

I wonder why we like fishing and hunting so much? My guide is this strange mixture of environmentally conscious and not-so-much... It is probably an occupation thing, but Captain Jim will not kill a fish; but, he is an active deer hunter (although he only goes after very large bucks). Anyway, I was enjoying the fishing a lot, but I noticed that Captain Jim would always set the Tarpon right in the water to facilitate them swimming back down into the ocean (we didn't pull them on to the boat). This seemed very exciting, and with my second (and last) Tarpon, I asked him if I could cut the hook off and set the fish right so he wouldn't have trouble swimming back down. Captain Jim said, "You can do whatever you want!"

And that was the highlight of my afternoon. That, and not losing another finger to another rope! Seriously though, my favorite part was not the 45 minutes it took me to win the battle with my tarpon, but it was setting his top fin upright again and pushing him under the water to watch him swim away.

Psalm 8 is more cosmological than anything, but it refers to subduing the Earth. I wonder if we stop thinking too early, if we forget to be New Covenant Thinkers with a Scripture like that. Relative to Jesus shouldn't we subdue the Earth in order to set it free? Isn't the point of Jesus to redeem the whole world? Heaven is all well and good, but as I look at Scripture - and the deep places of my heart - I have a great desire for the New Heavens and the New Earth.

This is not personified in me pushing the Tarpon back under the water, but I do think it alludes to my heart desiring not to dominate this creature... I think that is mistaken, what I really want is to see the beginnings of redemption everywhere... Again, the analogy falls short quickly! but, as I was leaning over the boat, laying on the floor, pushing this massive fish under water... I juts wonder if we don't wrap up our theology too quickly in Heaven, saving folks, tithing, etc. A Cosmic redemption sounds much more exciting to me; much more like Good News.

But, enough about me... What do you think?