Sunday, June 29, 2008

Living up to my Grandfather's Legacy

I met with him today, his pancreatic cancer is gaining on him, jaundice is becoming more apparent, strength almost gone from his right hand. But his words were not slurred as they have been in previous weeks. He spoke clearly and with animation that I hadn't heard for a long time, of the old wooden desk chair that he'd refurbished, how he'd gotten it from a friend of his that was going to throw it away and how he fixed it himself, replaced the undercarriage, stripped off the padding and re-stained it to perfectly match his cherry-wood colored desk. Now I will have that chair and know of its resurrection.

Cousin Joel arrived, we chatted of his being elected to deacon, Martha and the kids were traveling to Canada and about grandpa's inserts and poems. He told me to fetch a copy of his latest poem for Joel and I. 30 years of writing inserts for the church bulletin, of stumping friends and even new acquaintances with his Bible riddles, of the testimony of Christ that pours from his lips, watering every person he ever met.

I've inherited a steep legacy from grandpa, hopefully I can gain traction in people's hearts the way he has and point them further up the path where he has and is traveling; where we can all finally sit down and talk of how Rom 1:17 played through our lives.

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