Common Sense Reborn

Legacy Living

⁶Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Last weekend, my family and I made a super short trip to Florida for Father’s Day weekend. My schedule continues to be extremely busy this season, and I am grateful for the work God has directed me to. I started this post falling into my old rhythm of complaining about everything I despise in regard to Florida anymore. However, I reminded myself of what I had written in my last post, which was almost a month ago. No more griping. No more complaining about the things I cannot control. There is nothing I can do to combat the complete disregard to traffic laws in Florida (obviously Florida Highway Patrol does not care, so why should I). There is nothing I can do about the oppressive heat in Florida (obviously America does not care about global warming and moving our energy to clean, renewable resources). And I will not even go into the political corruption and evil celebrated in Florida right now. I just hope they are spared from any major hurricanes, as the state has chosen cruelty in funding the now closed Alligator Alcatraz over keeping their disaster funding well prepared for any storms.

But there was some good about traveling to Florida. There remains a remnant of our family that still lives there, so we are able to spend time with them. For Father’s Day, we attended the church my parents were an instrumental part of building up, Bayside Community Church. Pastor Burnard Scott spoke a beautiful word on building a legacy life and how our children are the true legacies of our lives. It was a message I desperately needed to hear, and I wanted to share it with you all, which you can watch for yourself by clicking the image below.

God is speaking to me about leadership and trying to break the devil’s hold he has on my reluctance to step fully into leadership roles. Our Commanding Officer in my National Guard unit pulled all the Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) into a private meeting during my last drill to discuss our failings as leaders. He, in a gracious and gentle way, did his best to remind all the NCOs of our purpose and calling as leaders in the military and essentially gave the warning that if we did not fulfill the role of leader, he would remove the rank of leader. Since finding a civilian job I am extremely passionate about, I have put the Guard on the back burner. I have tried to keep the Guard something I can completely unplug from the moment I leave drill and not place another thought, or effort, into until I show back up for first formation the next month. However, that mentality has been extremely unfair for our junior enlisted soldiers, who come to drill with the expectation of good training and honing their warfighting skills. Our Lieutenant Colonel’s meeting was still echoing in my mind as I sat down at Bayside to hear Pastor Burnard’s words on leadership within the house, community, and the world.

It is really hard to know what good leadership looks like in America right now. We have a horrible example of that sitting in the highest political seat. He is callous, cruel, and a disgusting person. However, we have the perfect example of the perfect leader in Jesus Christ, and really, as I have said on this platform for years, if we just accurately followed the preaching and teaching of Jesus, we would be in a much better place. The two most important principles are clear and simple: Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. What does that look like? Valuing and protecting all creation: the natural world (striving for a clean, renewable energy grid-which has nearly been accomplished by the world’s happiest countries). Not creating false idols (which includes placing value on material possessions over helping God’s greatest creation-people). Setting aside a Sabbath day to rest and reconnect to God through discipleship, worship, and service.

The second principle, which Jesus stated was equally important as the first: love all people as we love ourselves, and as God loves us. Every person in the world is created by God and in His image. Regardless of our political party, our religion, our race, our past, and our present actions. Every person in this world is created with a purpose thanks to the wonder, working, miracle power of our Heavenly Father. Here is a list of 30 verses that command believers in the treatment of the stranger and the foreigner, in case you needed that reminder today.

So, my challenge for you today is to look at your role as a leader in your life. We are all leaders, whether we want to be or not. Jesus commanded us to be, as His followers. We are commanded to learn the Word (accurately) by reading the Bible, which has been easily accessible for the last six hundred years. We are to inscribe those words on our hearts: live them, breathe them, and then share that wisdom and knowledge with the world around us. This was the Great Commission Jesus commanded to His original Disciples as He physically left them to return to His seat beside God, the Father. Whether you are a father yourself, or an uncle, or just a father figure to someone, you are building a legacy with the leadership you provide. What do you want your legacy to be? Are you like me, and holding back on fulfilling your full purpose as a leader of the faith? My family and I peeked nearly 5 years ago when we rallied the community to collect donations for those affected by the Mayfield Tornadoes. It was a moment where I felt like I was living in the Spirit. And since then, nothing. Yet the world is still a mess. Venezuela is in desperate need of aid, and agencies like Convoy of Hope are in country, desperately providing aid. The world has come together to send resources to this country, which is inspiring. However, this world is a mess. There is disaster everywhere. Poverty, hunger, housing crises exist around the world, and mankind has the resources, wealth, and means to mitigate all of that, yet we choose not to. We continue to be distracted by nonsense and ignore our calling as leaders to come together to bring Heaven to earth.

With that I will have to bring this to a close. My son has had a sleepover with three of his friends. We stayed up late, and they were all up early. I tried to sit down and put this post together quickly, but between feeding these wild boys and researching links to share with y’all, I have used up more time than I should have and desperately need to return to being present for my family and for these future generations, who will be our legacy. I pray you all have a blessed and safe celebration for America’s 250th birthday celebration. May we continue to progress into a better future for not just America, but for the entire world, for all of God’s creation.