"It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to." - Bilbo Baggins

Thursday, January 12, 2012

On Youth

A dear friend gave me this in light of our recent move. I thought I would share this as well. I pray that I will always be youthful!

On Youth
Oh, the eagerness and freshness of youth! How the boy enjoys his food, his sleep, his sports, his companions, his truant days. His life is an adventure, he is widening his outlook, he is extending his dominion, he is conquering his kingdom. How cheap are his pleasures, how ready his enthusiasms! In boyhood I have more delight on a haymow with two companions and a big dog - delight that came nearer intoxication - than I have ever had in all subsequent holidays of my life. When youth goes much goes with it. When manhood comes, much comes with it. We exchange a world of delightful sensations and impressions for a world of duties and studies and meditations. The youth enjoys what the man tries to understand. Lucky is he who can get his grapes to market and keep the bloom upon them, who can carry some of the freshness and eagerness and simplicity of youth into his later years, who can have a boy's heart below a man's head.
- John Burroughs

This helps me keep perspective. Like any place Leadville Colorado has it's own challenges and what others would call work. For me what better playground is there than deep snow, mountains, or a plow on the front of a truck and a long drive way ;)

Life and all that is in it is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved.

Take a look at Ecclesiates 11:8 - 12:14

Monday, January 2, 2012

Leaving a Legacy

As I reflect on our past year and what incredible changes have occurred in our lives I am left with the thought of the effect that our move will have on generations to come. We made this move to forever change the lives of our sons, and their children, to forge a new path, to allow them to grow up in adventure to explore the majesty around them. This will be a legacy.

Today I embark on a journey that I invite all those that read this to join me on. Today I start on a journey to that will change my heart so that I will in turn be able to leave a legacy to my sons so that they will see my walk with the Lord. I started to read the Bible in it's entirety using the Legacy Reading plan by Hank Hanegraaf. The reason I like this plan is because it groups the books of the Bible together by genres, you aren't simply reading from Genesis to Revelation, instead you read by Hebrew History, Prophetic Books, etc. You can find out more by taking a look at the actual plan: http://www.equip.org/site/legacy_bible_reading_plan. The other aspect is that you read at your own pace, their are goals for each month, but it's not something you have to do everyday. This is something I hope to do each an every year, not because I have to but because I want to. God has spoken to us, He has only spoken to us through His Word.

So what does this have to do with a legacy? As I have shared in the past, no matter what a person does during his/her life it will eventually be forgotten. Man is a vapor. The absolute greatest impact one can have on this life is the legacy that is left with his/her children. Whether you know it or not there is a legacy that is left. That legacy may be one like Enoch where it was said of him that he walked with the Lord. I want that to be said of me. Or, that legacy might be one of David, who, because of his sin with Bathsheba, the sword never left his home. Yes, he was a man after God's own heart, but sin has consequences. He lived and died with those consequences and it affected many generations after him, Israel and Judah didn't fall in one day, it took many generations. That was the legacy that was left. Our nation isn't where it's at today because of what people are doing today, those affects will be felt by future generations; no what we see today is because of the legacy that was left by the previous generation. I want my legacy to be that I loved the Lord, my sons saw that I loved the Lord and by loving the Lord with all my heart, by being a man after His own heart they knew I loved them. By knowing the Creator's Word and applying it in my life I will become that man, there is no other way. That's leaving a legacy.

Join me on this journey, wrestle with God and His word, I promise (and He promises) it will not leave you unchanged.