7/28/2021 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
I can still remember like it happened yesterday. I was probably 7 or 8 years old, and I was sick and had to stay home from church. I remember my dad saying to me, “I wish that I could swap places with you.” Man, did my mom scold my dad for verbalizing what he was thinking!
See, my dad had no interest in going to church because, at this point in his life, he had no interest in God. Later on in life my dad made the choice to accept Christ as his Savior and his life and the lives of his family were changed forever.
Another memory I have is hearing my high school French teacher say to me after class one day, “Brian, you are going to grow up doing drugs and end up spending your life in prison.” I wish he could see me now! I have been pastoring my church going on 22 years, been in ministry for 40 years, been married to the mother of my children for 48 years next month, and have children and grandchildren that love me. And that all goes back to that day when I made a choice to take God seriously.
Jonathan Edwards made a choice and it made a difference in his family, and literally affected the history of our country. Born in 1703, he was perhaps the most brilliant mind America ever produced. He was a pastor, a writer, and later became the president of Princeton University.
Johnathan and his wife Sarah would have 11 children. Of his known male descendants, 300 became pastors, missionaries, or theological professors. 120 were professors at universities, 110 became attorneys, 60 were prominent authors, and 30 became judges. There were 60 physicians, 295 college graduates, 75 Army and Navy officers, and 14 served as presidents of universities and colleges. There were governors of states, ministers to foreign countries, 3 who served in Congress, and 1 became the Vice President of the United States.
I don’t care who you are: that is some pretty impressive information regarding one couple, Jonathan & Sarah Edwards. This couple made a difference in generation after generation because of a decision they made to make God a priority in their lives and then pass on that priority down to their family, who then passed it down to their families.
Contrast that with a man by the name of Max Jukes. Max Jukes live at the same time as Edwards. Jukes made a choice to be an atheist, wanting nothing to do with God. Max married a woman who also did not want anything to do with God, and from this union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. Instead of investing their lives in our country, Max Jukes 540 descendants cost the State one and a quarter million dollars before inflation.
The choices people make, and the choices you and I make, really do matter! Today we see a cancel culture mentality, where our history is being distorted and or erased. Life is being devalued, preborn babies are being killed by the millions, and police officers, as well as civilians, are being killed on our streets daily. We are told to be tolerant of everything (except Biblical truth of course). We live in a time when it becomes offensive to stand for or salute the American flag or say “God bless America” or “Merry Christmas.” We are seeing the consequences of our choices and it is not looking good.
When it comes to creating a legacy, it will come down to the choices we make. If we set our minds wholeheartedly on serving God, our example will bring a tremendous blessing not only to our families but to those people that enter into our lives. Who knows? From your life, someone might want to serve the very God that you are serving.
At the end of his life Joshua said… But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15
Serving God is not always easy, but it is always right. Judy and I have chosen to serve the Lord, and I believe that my family is better for it. Choices do matter! Choose well; you have no idea who it will affect.
