How do you want to be remembered?
When I lived in Georgia and was an intern with Adventures in Missions in the office before coming to Guatemala, one of my jobs was to follow and read certain world racers’ blogs while on their race. So the other day I read a blog by a world racer named Brian Ledtke. I have never met Brian and do not personally know him, but wow did the words that the Lord put on his heart to write really speak to me.
It might sound different, but I often think about what’s it’s going to be like when we are called home to heaven with the Lord. By no means do I want this life to end, but I often think about the day and what it will be like when either the Lord Christ Jesus returns to earth or the day when I come face to face with my Savior when He calls me home to heaven with him.
Thoughts like this don’t make me sad, but they awaken me and inspire me to really think about how I want to live this life and the kind of person that I long to be. Recently with Easter aka “Resurrection Day” being this past Sunday, again the reality of Jesus really returning in my life time came to mind. I think about how all of life will stop when we suddenly hear the trumpet sound and see him descending from the sky. Sometimes I also wake up and think to myself, what if today is my last day to live? How will I be remembered and will I have lived the life that my Maker, Savior, and God created me to live?
Recently my Grandpa who I dearly love and respect had surgery to get two masses of cancer taken out from his kidney. I am so thankful to God to say that he is healthy and recovering from the surgery and that all the cancer was successfully removed from him. But I thought to myself, what if this is the last time I see my Grandpa? As I thought these thoughts, The Lord lead me to read a blog that was wrote by Brian about the passing of his “Poppa.” His words rang so true and deep to me that I felt compelled to share what he wrote on my blog with hopes that my family, friends, and people who I care about would read it and be touched and inspired as I was.
So here is Brian’s blog below, I ask that you take a couple minutes out of your day to read his words while reflecting on your life and how you want to be remembered?
God Bless you all and I am thankful to know you all and to have your support and love within my life. I will write another blog soon regarding the time in my last month here in Guatemala.
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Lessons Learned at my Poppa’s Funeral: Posted in Serbia by Brian Ledtke on 3/10/2014
“The puffy clouds looked like blood red snow blanketing every square inch below me as the sun set. I was all alone on an airplane for the first time in seven months. No team, no squad, no one. I was heading home. Not because my Race was over but because my Poppa’s was. He was a huge influence on my life and I wanted to go home for just a while to say thank you, love you, and see ya soon. One week later, he left his flawed earth suit and was instantly present before his Savior who he faithfully served his whole life.
There is something about funerals that make you truly reflect on your life and what is most important. At the end it doesn’t matter who thought you were cool, or how much money you had, or how big your house was. What matters is how big you loved. My Poppa loved people with no expectation of anything in return. He loved his family so ridiculously much. But he loved Jesus most of all.
As about 400 people made their way through the crowded funeral home showing room to pay their final respects I wondered how many people would show up to my funeral? What would I be remembered for? My Poppa was remembered for how much he loved Jesus, his family, and friends. What a great thing to be remembered for.
I don’t want to get to the end and people be like, “Well, he sure liked stuff,” or “He was a good guy who loved people most of the time,” or “Boy, he sure loved money.” No. When people walk past my casket someday I want people to not see me but see Jesus’ love in me. I want to be remembered for loving Jesus and others with such passion and reckless abandon.
You may be thinking that this is a rather morbid subject to write about but I think it’s of supreme importance to think about how you want to be remembered. You never know when it’ll be your time to go home so it’s never too early to think about it. You aren’t invincible. Our time on this earth is a blink of an eye. Think of all the billions of people who have lived before you and will live after you. The world does not revolve around you. It never has and never will. 50 years from now no one will care how famous you were or how much money you had or how many homes in Bora Bora you had. The one and only thing that will resonate throughout eternity is love.
Love.
So stop being selfish. Seriously, stop it. Selfishness will get you no where but loneliness, hopelessness, and despair. Love on the other hand, love will change the world. Love will tear down walls of racism and oppression. Love frees children who are in sexual slavery. Love changes the world. And accepting Jesus’ love and sacrifice will bring you into glorious everlasting life with Him. Love is life.
So what do you want to be remembered for?
For those wondering I did get to spend some quality time with my Poppa before he passed. I got to tell him I loved him and he told me he loved me and was proud of me. His last words were to his wife of 60 years, he said, “You are so beautiful Shirley, I love you.” What a gift to my Grammy. Now my Poppa is partying up in heaven with Jesus, with no pain, no possessions, and no fears. Nothing but the perfect love of Jesus. So again I ask, what is truly important? What will you be remembered for?”
Here is Brian’s link to his blog if you would like to leave him a comment.
The words that my Aunt Nicole once wrote to me are words that I can only hope and pray that I could be remembered by
My Life Goal:
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were ordinary, unschooled men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
Oh, let it be so noted with my life … my words … my love for those who love me … and even more, my love for those who don’t. that I have been with Jesus. I love with His Love and live with his Life because He is the source of all love and life Alive within me…
1 John 4:10-12
* For this is true love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another...God lives in us and His love is made complete in us
“With God all things are possible”
