This is prompted by 3 events in the past few hours.
- Saturday evening our church has a contemporary service that Kathy and I attend.
- Saturday night Kathy and I talked about what life was like 10 years ago for each of us.
- This morning, while hanging out at the Firefly Coffee House, I spoke with my friend Pete and he mentioned how in 20 years after his death, will anyone remember him?
At church, we discussed how our life on earth is a small segment of our life, as Christians we will live forever, etc.
The discussion about 10 years ago, was eye opening because my father was dying, my kids were in middle school and it was incredible to look back and see what has occurred in that short span of time between 1998 and 2008 in my own life. Also, I am now at the age that my Dad was when I left home and my parents became emptynesters for the next 20 years.
Then this morning as Pete and I were talking it struck me how few people are remembered after they are gone from this life on earth. I have books by people that are no longer alive. There are buildings with the names of people long gone. But what about the common man? Will you and I be remembered 10 years after we are gone? Or by our grandchildren?
First, there are people that you most likely have had an influence on already in life. Last year when our church did a small group study for 6 weeks, we wrapped it up with a dinner dance and there was a couple that came up to us to thank us for something we had done about 2 years before. That something was we had volunteered our home for a small group study, and this was the first time this couple had been to something like this and it changed their lives.
I look back on people in my life that have had an effect on who I am today, and that is one way, these people have achieved "Immortality".
There is another tool that I pointed out to Pete this morning and it is free and easy to use. You are reading it right now. In this internet age, anyone with access to the internet can create a permanent log of their life, or of anything they want to write about. On my
Collective Wisdom site, I have a map that shows me where in the world people are that have visited my site. 400 visits in 3 weeks. I have no idea if there was something I posted there that will change someones life.
8 years ago, I gave my Mom a tape recorder and asked her to start recording her life story. She never did, and the family she left behind is poorer for it. Perhaps you can leave something for your friends, family and generations to come by using this simple tool and leave behind a legacy, a history, an insight, a perspective that is uniquely yours, that will live forever. Don't wait until it's too late.
Here's a few pictures of my parents and their grandchildren:
