Leaving a Legacy Through Journaling
A wise man named Blythe Harper told me at nineteen that one of the smartest things I could do in my life was to keep a personal spiritual journal or diary.
I started practicing his advice on October 30, 1972. I’ve been doing it ever since–for the past forty-four years.
At the moment, I’m looking down at the yellowed first page of that record when my hand-writing was still young and vibrant, and the thoughts flowed like water!
I’m sure glad I heeded his advice.
You can also leave a legacy through journaling.
To the left of my desk is a shelf that contains more than four feet worth of those journals, painstakingly kept over four decades. The early years were written on college-ruled paper and filed in notebooks; the middle segment were penned into the pages of a Youth With A Mission Prayer Diary; the last ten years have been complied and stored on computer with a paper copy back up.
I’m really glad that I did it. These precious journals contain many things that are irreplaceable to me:
- They share the story of my growth as a young believer to a forty-plus year career missionary with YWAM.
- They contain my thoughts on many subjects, personal, theological, practical, and relational.
- They tell all the stories of my travels, ministry, and spiritual highlights over a lifetime.
- They record the details and records of all the people I’ve met during my life on all the continents of the world and in sixty nations–what a treasure!
- They expose my personal failures and struggles, and how God made a way out of them for me.
- They help me remember the many things that God has taught me and spoken to me over forty plus years of walking with him.
It’s amazing how much you forget in a single day, let alone a year or a lifetime. One of my current practices with the journal is to print it out at the end of every year and then use the month of January to read it through again and remind myself of the things God has showed me and what he’s doing in my life. I’m always amazed at how much I forget–if it weren’t for the discipline of writing.
That’s why they say writing is 20/20 memory.
Yes–I’m like everyone else–not always faithful to record in the journal. When I started out in 1972, I wrote something down everyday. But for years now, I don’t write daily, just regularly to record the highlights of life and keep the thread of continuity going. Sometimes I get way behind and have to catch up on a trip or long flight across the ocean.
But I always catch up and keep the tale building. It’s a tremendous benefit to my own life–even if no one else ever sees it.
One thing I use the journal for is to organize my time wisely–what the Bible calls “numbering our days” (Psalm 90:12). About thirty years ago I prayed about the possible length of my lifetime based on the ages of parents, grandparents and other factors–and settled on eighty-five years. There’s no guarantee, but that’s what I’m aiming for.
Then I decided to “number my days”–literally–and place the number of days that I’ve already lived and the number of days I could possibly live (up to age 85) on each entry page of my journal. The purpose was to remind me that life is short, there’s no time to waste.
Thirty years ago those numbers stood at 10,952 days lived with 20,067 to go. Today those numbers stand at 22,968 days lived, and 7,963 left. Looking at those stats almost daily places a great motivation in my heart and conscience to make my life count for eternity. At this stage in my career, the hands of the clock are turning faster and faster.
But besides the personal benefits of journaling, I figured out a long time ago that recording my journey might be a blessing to my family, my children and grand children, or anybody else who might be interested. Years ago God impressed me that journaling was a great way to leave a legacy to those who come after you–so that they can learn from your mistakes and be inspired by your victories.
That’s a great motivation to keep writing–for the help and encouragement of others–especially those who are your own flesh and blood. (Nobody else may be interested!)
Sometime in the future I’m going to put those journals into a book form that can be passed down to my ancestors. I want them to learn how I survived the death of my mother, the imprisonment of my father, how I found God at fifteen and was called into his service at nineteen. I want them to read of all of God’s miracles in my life and how he carried me through the trials and stressed that we all face. I want them to know that I loved God with all my heart and want them to love him too.
Even if I don’t get around to the book, the journals are there. They’re a permanent record that I’m sure someone will enjoy.
They won’t know much about the real me unless I tell them–and write it down for them to read. The cool thing about today’s world is that it’s pretty easy to put your thoughts in a book form. Computers make that process easy and it doesn’t cost much to self-publish. You can print ten copies for your grandkids or 100,000 if your life is a block-buster. By the time I reach eighty-five in 2038, they’ll probably have figured out a way to take my old written journals, and scan them straight into type!
It gets easier every year.
Journaling is one of the simplest and most long-lasting ways to leave a legacy to your family and friends– one they can hold onto and cherish for the rest of their lives–and pass on to others. As Francis Bacon once said, “Reading makes a full man…writing an exact man.” I want to “fill up” my descendants with the great news of God’s grace in my life–and the only way I can be “exact” about it is to write it down.
It’s that simple.
So how about you? You say you’re older and it’s too late to start journaling? How about doing a “recap” of your life that can be a blessing for generations to come. If you’re closer to mid-stream, why not get started with that wealth of life experience that can be a help to those that follow you.
And if you’re young, this is the time to begin. Take the wise advice I was given over forty years ago:
Keep a personal, spiritual journal.
It’s your legacy to pass on for the glory of God.
Hey Colin–Patriotism is a Fruit of Gratefulness
Just a few years ago, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick (pronounced Capper-nick) was one of the most known football players in the world–having led the San Franciso 49ers to two NFC championships and one Super Bowl.
His abilities were unique. Strong armed, tall, and could run like a gazelle, Kaepernick had reached the top echelons of America’s favorite sport.
But this week he’s in the national doghouse. Why?
Because Colin doesn’t understand that patriotism–as shown recently at the Olympics by numerous athletes from many countries–is a beautiful fruit of gratefulness.
Here’s what happened.
Kaepernick was found sitting down during the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” in a recent pre season game while all the other players and coaches stood. The national anthem is sung before most sports contests in America. When asked by a reporter about why he did it, he replied:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
The National Football League does not make its athletes stand for the national anthem, and, indeed, the 49ers said it was within Kaepernick’s right to not participate. But some coaches say they expect members of their team to stand, regardless of their personal feelings.
Here’s how Rex Ryan, the Buffalo Bills head coach, addressed it in a Sunday news conference:
“Anytime I talk to my team about that, if there’s personal beliefs or whatever that keep you from doing it, I understand. But at the same time, you know, you’ve got to look at the gifts that we have, the opportunity that we have to play a great game is through the men and women that serve our country. I think that’s an opportunity right there just to show respect, and I think that’s why when you see our team, every one of us are on that line and that’s kind of our way of giving thanks.”
Most coaches and athletes agree with Rex, including Colin Kaepernick’s birth mother, Heidi Russo who sent out the following tweet following his action:
“There’s ways to make change [without] disrespecting [and] bringing shame to the very country [and] family who afforded you so many blessings.The path less traveled doesn’t need to be one of destruction.”
Russo and many others believe that Kaepernick should be grateful for his nation. He was born in a country where he could be adopted into a white family who cared for him. He was allowed to go to university where he became a star under a series of coaches.
Because of America’s freedom, Kaepernick made it into pro football where he currently has a $114 million six-year contract with the 49ers that makes him the 14th highest-paid NFL player. That puts him in the top 0.8 percent of the millionaire’s club that is professional football. Kaepernick’s income also places him in the top 0.05 percent of Americans. He has much for which to be grateful.
Steve Berman puts it this way:
“Colin Kaepernick is an American. He enjoys the civil rights offered to all Americans, to speak his mind. He enjoys the economic freedom offered to all Americans, to earn a lot of money. He enjoys the social status available to all Americans who work hard to achieve success. He enjoys using his God-given talents and abilities to entertain millions of us while playing a game while others make 1/10,000th of his salary for sleeping in a container truck in Afghanistan.”
“If Kaepernick really believes that the best use of his massive fame is to disrespect his own nation because social injustice exists, and some people are raised without the racial harmony he experienced, he has that right.”
“But maybe, instead of playing the “God Damn America” card, it would be more productive if he could take his $114 million and use it to help some of those who would appreciate his help.”
“In the end, this is America. It’s a free country. And Colin Kaepernick is free to be an idiot.”
Former US Representative Colonel Allen West, himself a black man, was far more upset.
West said a Scripture verse comes to mind: “Wisdom for Mr. Kaepernick: Proverbs 17:28, ‘Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues’ Or as the old folks down South would say, ‘Best for a stupid person to keep their mouth shut and not open it and let everyone know they are'”.
He says to Kaepernick: “You sir, may certainly have the right to sit on your ‘fourth point of contact’ when the National Anthem is played, but never forget, you live in a nation that has provided you the privilege to have that right.”
West concluded with these words: “The American flag has a very touching meaning for those of us whom it will drape our coffin—as it did for my dad…and it will be for me. May you seek God’s forgiveness and find humility because we the people are not going to forget what you did and said.”
So, why did world famous athlete Colin Kaepernick do what he did? Here are a few possibilities:
1. Maybe he has believed the lie of the Black Lives Matter folks that massive racial injustice still exists in the United States. That is a palpable untruth. Injustice will always exist in pockets in free nations and in deluges in much of the world. America is not racially perfect, but is better today than anytime in its history despite the demagoguery of the present Administration to try to gin up the black vote.
2. Maybe he has become a communist sympathizer. Following his latest game, Kaepernick came to the podium wearing a T-shirt that lauded Malcolm X shaking hands with Fidel Castro in the 1960s. That at least fits. Communists hate what the free world stands for.
3. Maybe he’s on his way to becoming a Muslim. It’s not totally far-fetched. He has a Muslim girlfriend. Some close to him feel he has turned away from his Christian faith and embraced Islam. He recently sent Ramadan greetings out on his social media accounts. Islam is virulently anti-American, as exemplified by the rhetoric and behavior of the Nation of Islam.
4. Maybe he’s just bitter that he’s about to lose his job with the 49ers and may be looking for another team. Change is difficult, even when you’re making eleven millions dollars a year.
5. Maybe he’s just immature and needs to grow up. We all do in some areas of our lives.
There are two famous black men that Colin Kaepernick should learn from. One is Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who played a critical role in the abolitionist movement in the mid-19th century. He had been a frequent critic of American policy. However, he believed that the dearly held principles of the Declaration of Independence, and its unequivocal statement that all men are “created equal,” would eventually lead to slavery’s dissolution.
Douglass pulled no punches in criticizing slavery as a massive contradiction in American life, but he understood the evils of the system would be corrected by embracing the country’s origins rather than rejecting them. He encouraged black Americans to sign up and fight for the Union under the American flag during the Civil War, played a crucial role in recruitment efforts, and convinced many former slaves to serve in the military and embrace the United States as the vessel—not the thwarter—of freedom.
Douglass was known to frequently play “The Star-Spangled Banner” on his violin for his grandchildren in the years after the war. He said in an 1871 speech at Arlington National Cemetery that “if the star-spangled banner floats only over free American citizens in every quarter of the land, and our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty, and civilization, we are indebted to the unselfish devotion of the noble army.”
The other person Colin Kaepernick should follow is Ray Charles.
When I first heard about Kaepernick’s national impiety, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh’s radio program in my car. Rush said in that broadcast that he had one response to Kaepernick’s bad judgment.
Then he played, for four minutes, Ray Charles’ moving rendition of America the Beautiful. Here is a link to a 2001 version, sung just following 9-11. Please watch it to the end. It will give you goosebumps.
Douglas and Charles and millions of other Americans have it right. Patriotism is the fruit of a thankful heart toward God, your heritage, and for those who laid down their lives for your freedom.
Hey Colin–Patriotism is a fruit of gratefulness. Get your head out of your butt, stand to your feet, put your hand on your heart and sing!
We will gratefully join you.
“who more than self their country loved.”
How Not to Confess Your Sin
Unless you took your honeymoon in August, you’re probably aware that the United States did very well at the 31st Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro–with one glaring exception.
Toward the end of the Games, celebrated American swimmer Ryan Lochte, 32, and three of his younger swimming buddies, gave America a black eye by some atrocious behavior outside the pool.
I was saddened by what happened, but even more troubled by the way Lochte handled it.
I’ve been in numerous settings where I’ve shared with others how to confess their sins. What gave me the authority to do it? Being a sinner myself , making mistakes, learning from them, and also devouring quite a bit of literature on the power of confession and forgiveness.
One thing we can learn from Ryan Lochte is how not to confess your sin.
Let me begin by saying that there are a number of angles to the Lochte saga. According to a recent USA Today, article, it’s probably true that the Brazilian police did a little editing of tape and also did not tell the full story. It’s also true that Mr. Lochte has lost much future endorsement money in the past few weeks when he was quickly dumped by former sponsors Speedo USA, Ralph Lauren and skin-care firm Syneron-Candela.
Bad actions have negative consequences.
I will let columnist Steve Berman share his perspective on how Ryan Lochte and teammates Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz, and Jimmy Feigen brought shame to America late one night during the Rio Olympics.
“Ryan Lochte needs to man up and fly to Rio. I watched Matt Lauer‘s interview with Lochte and cringed at his statement, ‘I over-exaggerated that story.’ It’s not the regretful words of a 32-year-old man, it’s the excuse of a 21-year-old frat boy; the very frat boy Lochte claims he’s not.”
“These are the facts:
- Lochte went to an all-night party held by the French team and got horribly drunk.
- He and three teammates took a cab ride home around 6 a.m., and stopped for gas and to relieve themselves.
- Unable to get into the rest room, at least one of them forced the restroom door open, or urinated in the bushes behind the station.
- Confronted by security, Lochte pulled an advertising banner from the station’s wall.
- The security guards would not let the swimmers leave until they’d paid, or the police arrived (it’s unclear if they were actually called).
- When Lochte tried to leave, one of the guards drew his firearm and pointed it in the swimmers’ direction.
- The swimmers paid the equivalent of $50 and left.”
“Here’s what Lochte told everyone, starting with his mother:
- We were robbed at gunpoint at 3 a.m.
- The robbers stopped our taxi, ordered us to get out, get down on the ground.
- I resisted, and had a gun put to my forehead and cocked.
- I gave the robbers my wallet.”
“This is not ‘over-exaggerating.’ It’s flat-out lying.”
“Laurer brought Lochte nearly to tears after asking if he realized what he’d done to his teammates. Lochte also admitted he could lose sponsors, and potentially be banned from competitive swimming. Almost certainly, his apology on Instagram was made mostly to keep himself from that fate.”
Lochte didn’t vary much from that statement in his interview with Laurer. But his problem isn’t with USA Swimming, or the USOC, or his teammates, or his sponsors. His problem is with America and Brazil.”
“Would anyone blame Brazilians for protecting the honor of their country as the host country of the Olympic Games?”
“As a Georgian for the past 24 years, I witnessed the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games. To me, they were a proud embarrassment. Proud because Atlanta, less than 2 hours from my home, pulled it off. They were a great games. Embarrassment, because of the transportation, ticketing, and security problems that were widely reported. And then there was the pipe bomb at Centennial Olympic Park. No effort was spared to capture Erick Rudolph. It took two years.”
“That was the last time the U.S. hosted the summer games. President Obama tried to get the games for Chicago, and made an unprecedented personal appeal. He failed. Ryan Lochte could cost America the summer games: Los Angeles has bid for 2024, along with Rome, Paris and Budapest.”
“Why would the IOC select Los Angeles when American athletes are perceived as lying about an Olympic host country, then fleeing home?”
‘It’s how you want to make it look like. Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion, or us paying just for the damages, like, we don’t know,’ Lochte responded. ‘All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money.’
‘We just wanted to get out of there,’ Lochte said. ‘We were all frightened. And we wanted to get out of there as quick as possible. And the only way we knew is — this guy saying, ‘You have to give him money.’ So we gave him money, and we got out.’”
“Fortunately, there’s a solution here. Lochte should stop saying he ‘over-exaggerated’ his account in the press. He should tell the truth–he lied to make himself look better. He didn’t care about his teammates, or his country, or swimming at that point. He cared about Ryan.”
“He should get on an airplane–today–clear customs in Brazil, and let himself be taken into custody. He should pay whatever fine they hit him with. Then he should go on Brazilian television and confess his lie. They’re human. They’ll accept it if he gives it sincerely.”
If you have haven’t seen the Lauer interview, you can view it here. I must admit it’s painful to watch. It reminded me of the first time HIllary Clinton tried to explain her secret e-mail server. Both of them danced, swerved, lied, used carefully crafted excuses that meant nothing–and then showed a little contrition to make you feel sorry for them.
But that’s not enough. Here’s what I’ve learned from my own failures about how to confess your sins:
1. Begin by confessing to God. He is the main One you’re sinned against (Psalm 51:4) since all wrong actions are rebellion against His kingdom and ways. Do that in private, receive His forgiveness and ask for His empowering to help make the situation right.
1. Go to the people you’ve harmed and be honest and transparent as quickly as possible (Matthew 5:23-26) . Tell exactly what you did and why you did it. Truth is important to God and has a ring of authority to it that can help to undo the damage (though it will never completely remove the stain).
2. Be humble about your mistake (James 5:16). Don’t make any excuses or rationalize it in any way. Remember this: to rationalize is to tell yourself and the world a rational lie. But it’s still a lie–and adds a second wrong to your already bad behavior. In fact, oftentimes the cover up or justification is worse than the offense itself.
3. Don’t use the cheap words “I’m sorry” when dealing with your guilt. Whenever you sin against someone, look them in the eye, state what you did without justification, and ask them if they will forgive you. Saying you’re sorry focuses on you and can be self-serving–just trying to clear your conscience. Asking their forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32) puts the rightful focus on them and your desire to honor and clear up the hurt. It also gives the other person the opportunity to exercise forgiveness–a beautiful God-quality.
4. Make sure to confess your sin to all those you’ve harmed. If it’s one person, then go to the one. If it’s a group, then confess to the group. In Ryan Lochte’s case, I agree with Steve Berman that he needs to go to Brazil and ask forgiveness of the nation he trashed–also his Olympic teammates, the US Olympic committee, and the world at large that was negatively impacted by his actions. Always confess to the sphere of offense.
5. Do what you can (for the rest of your life) to make restitution for your sin. Ryan Lochte may have lost millions of dollars in endorsement money, but he could spend many years talking to thousands of kids about the evils of drunkenness, vandalism, and lying that could save them from his fate. A great way to restore a reputation is to re-build it again through repentant actions.
Pray for Ryan Lochte to do the right thing. Don’t look down on him. You’ve down similar things–just on the same scale. We’re all sinners who need to learn humility and appropriate grace.
And some of us need a refresher course in confessing our sins.