I just recently found out that someone that I love and care for very deeply will be losing her battle with cancer soon. Her name is Loretta and she is the wife of the man who was my youth pastor growing up. These two people have meant the world to me and have invested so much into my life. I feel in many ways that I am losing a parent. Dan & Loretta have loved me and cared for me in so many ways. Words just can’t describe the feeling that I have for them.
What can you really say or do for someone who has meant so much to you and done so much for you? The words “thank you” just seem so trite and meaningless. These two people invited me into their home when my parent’s were gone away on vacation, so that I wouldn’t have to alone and get myself into trouble. They invited me into their lives so that I could see how to live as a godly person. They invited me into their marriage so that I could learn how to be a good husband for my wife. They invited me into their ministry so that I could learn how to be a good pastor when I became one. They invited me into their hearts so that I could learn that I would always be loved no matter who I was or what I became.
I know that I am not the only person that they have touched and I know that I won’t be the last. However, how do you honor a person who has done so much and meant so much to you, like Loretta has? I think that the best way that you can do that is to live your life to the fullest. To live your life in such a way that you give your everything for the glory of God and to live your life passionately for Him. I think that is the best way that one can honor a person who has meant so much to you.
That is what I intend to do. Not only that but I know that Dan and Loretta’s legacy will live on, because every life that God has given me the honor of touching will have been touched by Dan and Loretta as well. That is the beauty and legacy of every Christ-follower. It is not having a plaque on the back of a pew or the carpeting that is purchased from the generous donation left to the church in your will. It is the joy of leaving behind lives who have been touched, because you cared enough to love and invest in their lives. The question for you is what are you going to do to honor the lives of the people who have touched your life? What kind of mark will you leave behind? Will be a stupid brass plaque or will it be lives touched?
