 His legacy |
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A Life Not Wasted
It was probably said many times as my dad was young that his life was going to be wasted. Through snide remarks and jokes about how he spoke with a severe speech impediment, and walked in an unorthodox fashion, I’m sure questions started to form in his mind. What is my purpose? Why was I created this way? Will my life be wasted?
September 5th, 2007 marks 3 years since my dad’s passing. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. Sure the shock and sting of death have waned but the memories of my Dad burn like the hot, African sun. God’s healing touch was obviously on my dad. The Jesus that walks with my dad still speaks to me today. A wasted life? I think not!
I have often thought about my dad and the conversations we would have if he were still alive. What would he say? What humble advice would he give me? When would he come to visit my family? I believe that my dad had a unique ability to hear God’s voice. Time and time again he would ask me, “Son, when am I going to come visit you in Africa?” You need to know that he was asking me this question even before Africa was ever a thought in my mind! Could it be that God was using my dad to prepare me for what I am doing now? A wasted life? I think not!
Although I can’t be sure, the Holy Spirit tells me that my dad came to a crossroads a few times in his life where he had to make a bold decision--to succumb to a wasted life or live a life that would glorify God in weakness. If there is one paragraph that could sum up the choice that my dad made it is the one below by John Piper.
“God created me-and you-to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion-namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are both crucial. If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn or legalism. But if we claim to enjoy his excellence and do not display it for others to see and admire, we deceive ourselves, because the mark of God enthralled joy is to overflow and expand by extending itself into the hearts of others. The wasted life is the life without passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.”
As I look back on my life and some of the decisions I have made I can see that it was the life lived for the glory of God that influenced my decision to be here in Africa. Almost 3 years ago I was talking with God. I had come to a crossroads in my life. Was I going to waste my life? I can hear God like it was yesterday whispering, “Will you Go?” I tried to think of many good excuses why I should not or could not bring my family to Africa. The answer that I finally gave to God was “Sure God, why not Go?” I could not find one good excuse not to go! The Bible says, “That you can give away all that you have and deliver your body to be burned and have not love” (1 Corinthians 13:3). I realized that if I don’t “Go” to point people to God for everlasting joy, I don’t love and I have wasted my life. Like the days and years that have now gone by, today I remember my dad and how he lived a life that was not wasted. His life to me serves as a vivid reminder of how to not live a wasted life but to live a life of passion for God in all things for the joy of all people, even in Malawi, Africa! I love you Dad.
Living a life not wasted,
Ryan
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