Two weeks ago we began a new teaching series at Fellowship Church. The title of the class is A Marriage That Lasts and the background for the class is the book, Legacy Now: Why Everything About You Matters.
Our Married Life Pastor, Jimmy York, kicked the series off with a great lesson on the meaning of legacy. He pointed out that we are all going to leave a legacy. We can do it by default or on purpose. He defined legacy for us as “organizing the way you live so that you will be a blessing to other people for generations to come.” By doing this, we will ensure that our relationships and our resources will outlive and outlast our time on this earth.
Jimmy was captured by an image of a grand banquet described in that book. He asked us to close our eyes and imagine a huge banquet table. At the table we see several people we recognize from our life…our parents, our grandparents, our spouses, our children. But there are also people we don’t recognize…some dressed in clothing from various past historical periods; others dressed in futuristic costumes we have never seen before.
This is your legacy banquet. At that grand table are all of the people from the past who influenced who you are today, … and all of the people for generations to come who will be influenced by who you are today. He also pointed out that those of who are Christ-followers are joint heirs of the ongoing legacy of our Savior.
There was a sense of urgency in Jimmy’s message that night. He wanted to shake all of us out of our comfort zones so that we would realize that everything we do now has an impact on eternity. He challenged us to develop a generational mindset for our lives. He wanted us to understand that every decision we make today has implications for tomorrow. He wanted us to know that legacy isn’t something that occurs when our life is over, but rather something that we are to live out now.
Early this morning, the Lord called Jimmy home. He is now sitting in the presence of the Lord at the banquet table the Lord prepared for him. Jimmy is getting to see his legacy past.
In his all too short life of 33 years, Jimmy lived out the definition of legacy that he gave us that night. He lived a life that has been a blessing to all of us. His leadership and vision for the Married Life ministry and the Men’s Influence Groups has been a blessing and will continue to be a blessing for generations to come.
Someday, we will join Jimmy at that banquet table. Let us all honor Jimmy by living in light of his Legacy Now message. Let us follow his example and live a life that is a blessing to others and that will be a blessing – like his was – for generations to come.
About Me
- Legacy
- I love to teach. And I am so blessed that I get to do so in a wide variety of settings: At school, at church, and in corporate settings. Most of what I teach has something to do with leadership. It is such a broad subject area and it has applications everywhere. I am married to the love of my life - who has been with me for most of my life now (40/56) and we are now celebrating 35 years of wonderful marriage. We have four children and six precious grand-children: 4 grand-daughters and two grand-sons. We are blessed!
8 comments:
WOW! What a powerful post. You have such a gift for writing and I am so blessed to get to read your blog but also to know you and your family. We are praying for Jimmy's family.
J.Lee, this is beautiful. Words cannot express my gratitude to you and Laura for being here for me in my darkest hour. Thank you for your prayers. I love you both!
I saw this quote tonight and thought it was appropriate...
"Live your life so that your children will know that you stood for something wonderful."
Jimmy lived his life this way and so do you. Thank you!
Love you!
What a beautiful and powerful post, Thank you J.Lee for sharing it.
My heart and prayers go out to the York family as the mourn over their son, husband, and father. My family mourns with them.
Fellowship Church lost a great and inspiring man this weekend, but I know that God gained a great and inspiring angel to work beside him.
Jimmy will be missed greatly.
We are with you in prayer for this special family. Thank you for being so open about your feelings.
J.Lee: How tragic and how true. Thanks for the gift you blog and Jimmy's life gives. I had a chat with my oldest daughter the other day. I'll have her read this and we will revisit. Mitch
What a wonderfully written memoriam. My heart aches for his family and I continue to pray for them. I will focus on my legacy and living it out...now
You nailed it J. Lee. And I can't help but think that if Jimmy knew he had one last message to leave us, that the message he gave to us that opening night would have been it. He has left a great legacy, and it's an even greater encouragement to me now to want to also leave a great legacy. Jimmy, "Buddy", I am going to greatly miss you.
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