Fathers on the mind

I love my Dad. My dad is the best father I could ever have asked for. I know it's cliche and there are t-shirts sold by the hundreds (at least!) that point out "The greatest DAD in the UNIVERSE!" But I love my father and hearing the stories about him. He is an amazing person with a heart the size of Texas. He has stood against and even overcome prejudice and injustice. When I think of a man, a real man's man... I think of the sensitivity and care my father has shown me from the day I was born.

Jade and I recently watched a movie called "Elizabethtown". In this movie the main character's father has suddenly passed away. A father he didn't get the chance to know or be with. And he ends up hearing stories about his dad and meeting the people that knew him and hearing what kind of impact he made on them. I love stories about fathers. That's why I love the fanciful, oddly quirky, and brilliant film "Big Fish". This movie is exactly what the title makes it out to be. One big fish story after another. "Big Fish" is about a man's father who is on his deathbed. His father is a story teller who exaggerates certain parts of his stories until no one is really sure what is the truth. The movie is about the son's quest to try and figure out what the truth is about his dad. In the end it didn't matter.

"There's a time when a man needs to fight and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny's lost, the ship has sailed and that only a fool will continue. The truth is I've always been a fool."

"A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal."

I believe fathers (and mothers too) live on after they have passed in the lives they have touched while they were here. That's the poignant thing though. Everybody, everywhere is leaving footprints behind in not only their individual lives, but in the lives of those affected by their presence. Good or bad we are all affected by each other somehow. I don't need to be a teacher or a pastor or a welfare worker to make a difference. I make a difference no matter what I do. Thus "Legacy Happens." It is unavoidable. We leave behind a legacy with every breath we breathe.

I have been a selfish man for most of my life. Still am a lot of times. I sometimes wonder what sort of effect I left in the lives for those wandering through my wake. It is not something I dwell on, I just ponder it enough to motivate me to be a better husband, father, son, brother, and person. It is an effort that I pray will be profitable to more than just me now. Did Abraham have any idea that a simple act of unabashed obedience in trusting God would be a foundational picture of God's redemptive plan for the human race? What if I could obey like Abraham did? What if we all did? At least once in our lives.