What is a legacy?
Legacy is something that is received from someone who has died; something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past.
Then there are different kinds of legacies; money or property given to another by will, something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past; an individual who is either an applicant to an educational institution or a matriculated student and is the child of an alumna or alumnus.
You can have a high school legacy, college legacy, a legacy in business or philanthropy… But the kind of legacy I am interested in is the family legacy-the eternal legacy.
Game changing moments…
We all have game changing moments, don’t we? Moments that cause you to stop, turn and go in an entirely different direction.
Lately I have been thinking about the trajectory of my life and have come to ask myself, “What one life event has impacted me most or changed the game?”
For me, it has been my kids – my kids have changed everything for me. They have, amongst countless other ways, brought me closer to God and that wasn’t something I expected or prepared for.
I say this because I never wanted to have kids. I kinda liked it just being the two of us, my wife and I. It’s funny because that is something I say to her often, “you and me, kid” … I was happy and content with my selfish life. I liked whisking my wife off to beautiful destinations and weekend getaways. One of the places we went often was Disneyland but after being there a few times it just didn't feel the same. Something was missing, an emptiness, if you will. It felt as though God was pulling on my heart saying, “don't you want to share these moments with more than just your wife?” Little did I know what he had in store for our future.
The game changer was on the horizon and God was working on me without me even knowing it. In hindsight, I know now what he was doing.
One example is where we live, we moved to a neighborhood and knew no one. After a short time we realized that a few of our friends lived there as well. This, I believe is no accident, God placed us where he wanted us. He was setting up our community – our “village” we didn't know we needed yet.
After going through, not 1 not 2 - but 10 years of infertility – God finally filled that emptiness. We had a miracle. Our excitement was short lived… After a few visits to the doctor that emptiness I felt, that had been diminishing, was no longer filled, our baby girl no longer had a heartbeat. We were crushed. Another “Game Changer” but our faith or true trust in God was not as strong then at it is today.
I had no idea that my wife was praying… Praying big prayers to a big God for big things and He was about to answer them all, two-fold.
Her prayer was out of 1 Samuel -
Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, "LORD of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant's affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut."
I could not have known then effect that would have, and eventually see what God had planned for us.
Just before Christmas, the same year as our loss, my wife took a pregnancy test and it was positive-another baby. It wasn't but a few months later that my wife came home with a couple of pictures. An “A” picture and a “B” picture. My response was, “Oh look at our baby…” She says, “Yep, picture “A” and picture “B”. “I said yep two pictures of the baby that's great.” I wasn't getting it. She had to spell it out for me “A picture, B picture meaning two babies’.”
Wow, THE “Game Changer”, Not just with one child, but two - TWINS. God knew our emptiness was big enough for two. Ding, ding, ding - what did I win-The Kid Lottery! Going from no kids to two kids overnight “BAM”! We didn't know how to take care of one kid let alone two, but as I look back I see how God worked out things for our good.
Our kids were born early and had to stay in the NICU where we could take care of them for a few weeks. We able to take our daughter home first, our son needed more care, easing us into parenthood – a blessing in disguise.
In this we have learned how God blesses and provides in so many ways, and in this, I have learned why it is important to become a different kind of man, different kind of dad, and a different kind of husband… and here is where the legacy begins… I am learning, along with my wife, what's important and this is the foundation for our foundation - we have begun with a game changing moment which has led to a cornerstone.
The End.
Legacy is something that is received from someone who has died; something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past.
Then there are different kinds of legacies; money or property given to another by will, something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past; an individual who is either an applicant to an educational institution or a matriculated student and is the child of an alumna or alumnus.
You can have a high school legacy, college legacy, a legacy in business or philanthropy… But the kind of legacy I am interested in is the family legacy-the eternal legacy.
Game changing moments…
We all have game changing moments, don’t we? Moments that cause you to stop, turn and go in an entirely different direction.
Lately I have been thinking about the trajectory of my life and have come to ask myself, “What one life event has impacted me most or changed the game?”
For me, it has been my kids – my kids have changed everything for me. They have, amongst countless other ways, brought me closer to God and that wasn’t something I expected or prepared for.
I say this because I never wanted to have kids. I kinda liked it just being the two of us, my wife and I. It’s funny because that is something I say to her often, “you and me, kid” … I was happy and content with my selfish life. I liked whisking my wife off to beautiful destinations and weekend getaways. One of the places we went often was Disneyland but after being there a few times it just didn't feel the same. Something was missing, an emptiness, if you will. It felt as though God was pulling on my heart saying, “don't you want to share these moments with more than just your wife?” Little did I know what he had in store for our future.
The game changer was on the horizon and God was working on me without me even knowing it. In hindsight, I know now what he was doing.
One example is where we live, we moved to a neighborhood and knew no one. After a short time we realized that a few of our friends lived there as well. This, I believe is no accident, God placed us where he wanted us. He was setting up our community – our “village” we didn't know we needed yet.
After going through, not 1 not 2 - but 10 years of infertility – God finally filled that emptiness. We had a miracle. Our excitement was short lived… After a few visits to the doctor that emptiness I felt, that had been diminishing, was no longer filled, our baby girl no longer had a heartbeat. We were crushed. Another “Game Changer” but our faith or true trust in God was not as strong then at it is today.
I had no idea that my wife was praying… Praying big prayers to a big God for big things and He was about to answer them all, two-fold.
Her prayer was out of 1 Samuel -
Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, "LORD of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant's affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut."
I could not have known then effect that would have, and eventually see what God had planned for us.
Just before Christmas, the same year as our loss, my wife took a pregnancy test and it was positive-another baby. It wasn't but a few months later that my wife came home with a couple of pictures. An “A” picture and a “B” picture. My response was, “Oh look at our baby…” She says, “Yep, picture “A” and picture “B”. “I said yep two pictures of the baby that's great.” I wasn't getting it. She had to spell it out for me “A picture, B picture meaning two babies’.”
Wow, THE “Game Changer”, Not just with one child, but two - TWINS. God knew our emptiness was big enough for two. Ding, ding, ding - what did I win-The Kid Lottery! Going from no kids to two kids overnight “BAM”! We didn't know how to take care of one kid let alone two, but as I look back I see how God worked out things for our good.
Our kids were born early and had to stay in the NICU where we could take care of them for a few weeks. We able to take our daughter home first, our son needed more care, easing us into parenthood – a blessing in disguise.
In this we have learned how God blesses and provides in so many ways, and in this, I have learned why it is important to become a different kind of man, different kind of dad, and a different kind of husband… and here is where the legacy begins… I am learning, along with my wife, what's important and this is the foundation for our foundation - we have begun with a game changing moment which has led to a cornerstone.
The End.
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