Footprints.....

What I have to share this morning comes from Acts 26: - I have been thinking about this for weeks now as a piece a story together.

What kind of footprint are you going to leave that represented your life? When its all said and done - what will be your mark that your life stood for? What imprint is left?

Our footprints are all different. They are also there only for a short while until the water washes it away and shifts the particals of sand from one place to another. The last few years has taught me some very important things in life. Never take it for granted and don't put off what you can do today until tomorrow because tomorrow may not come. Today is a gift and we should thank God for each of them because its by His grace we are allowed to live it. My mom was such a giving woman. She lived her entire life giving and serving others. Often times, doing without so that someone else could have. I can remember her telling my brother and I that it was always better to give than to receive. Only until the last few years have I really understood that. Only until recently it has really got a hold of my heart.

I have always wanted to live my adult life as simply as possible. I never really dreamed of being rich or famous. I just wanted to live a happy life with what I had with family and friends around me. So many of us persue the dreams of the rich and famous. You can see how some of their lives have gone and make that decision. I know many folks who have tossed their marriages aside, raising their kids or working endlessly for the bigger house and bigger paycheck. Today people move across country for $2000 more a year when they should be putting down roots and footprints for their children. I spoke a little about this on Sunday being that I feel very blessed to have what I have. To have more than my fair share of things in this life and how I did not want to just store those things up. Build bigger barns to hold more things - many of us have garages today only to hold stuff - instead of the family vehicles. I want my life to be about "Jesus" and about "Giving". In that order - I walked through the graveyard where my mom is buried a few weeks back after my family reunion. So much is told in the words on those headstones. ~Loving wife - loving mother - war veteran - died too early .... so many things that people will read and remember. That one thing sums it up? Is that what we will remember of that person? Over the last few years my family and I have shared in the loss of some close family members. They were hard times to go through. Coming out on the other side has left a lasting mark on our lives. Life is way too short ...and now that we are officially middle age I guess - 42 - who knows how much time is left here. We just don't know and I have been just heart pressed to make a difference today. SO many of us work and raise our families, doing our own thing and waiting for retirement. Thinking then we will be living - got some free time, don't have to work, kids are grown - now its time to live. Doctor calls and things change. Plans come to a halt. Life is paused as our life plays out its story. As followers of Jesus - we are called to be different. We are called to make a difference in those around us, to share the "Good News" to breath truth and life into those around us. To be that encouragement someone needs and to be that friend when someone needs it. To be that male or female role model for that child who needs one. To forgive because God has forgiven you regardless of what has been done. Grace is an amazing thing!

When taking a stand for Jesus - it can be really hard at times. We carry the weight of those around us often times. I could never imagine the weight that our local church pastors carry. I feel 1000 pounds sometimes! But I know those pounds are because of Jesus and I am willing to carry the load for Him because one day I will stand alone - me and Him - and I will be judged for my -Footprints- that I have left here. I don't want to waver or quit the fight. In Acts 26: Paul who led a life chasing down Christians, killing them, putting them in jail and so many other things. He often called himself the worst of the worst. God used him in one of the greatest capacities ever. He faught the good fight and stood strong for Jesus all the way to the finish line. No matter how hard it was..... he endured even when he had the chance to walk away from it - to live his life longer.

SO I am asking this morning - what kind of footprint are you leaving behind? We all will have a headstone with something written on it .... what is that going to be?

Some of us will have a chance to write that and some of us won't. Some of us will have the chance to tell family and friends what they have meant to us and some of us won't. That is one reason why I tell so many of you now and today - I love you. There is no question or doubts - I am willing to "Do the Hard Things" and serve others ~ and give so much of myself. I want my footprint to mean something........ something significant for Jesus. Let Him live in you and through you loved ones. Chin up...... and leave your mark.

With a footprint love,

Lonnie~

Acts 26
1Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: 2"King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, 3and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4"The Jews all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. 5They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. 6And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. 7This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me. 8Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
9"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
12"On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
19"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. 21That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23that the Christ[b] would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles."
24At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane."
25"I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do."
28Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"
29Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."
30The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. 31They left the room, and while talking with one another, they said, "This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment."
32Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."