HALF WAY?

                                           (Turning the big 50)

The doomsday clock is moving: tick, tick, tick, tick. In a couple of weeks I will celebrate (not really) my fiftieth birthday. That's fifty: 5-0, half way to 100, half a century! It pains me to even pen these words. I'm not dealing with this birthday very well so this blog is an attempt at therapeutic writing. Perhaps I can cleanse my soul of fear and dread about getting older and the reminders of our mortality.

No doubt many of you are reading this post and saying, "Fifty, that's young!" And some of you will remind me that "fifty is the new forty." But the hard statistics cannot be compromised: the average lifespan in the USA is 78 years old. This means I am starting the third of what for most people is three quarters. Truthfully, I don't feel fifty, and I don't thing I look fifty either. It's not the physical body stuff that bothers me. What bothers me is the life stuff. Let me try to put it into words...

I thought that I would be much further down the road of success at this place in my life. For example, when I started my pension fund at age 28 the interest rate was such that I would have half a million dollars in the bank by the time I was fifty: Not happening! The economy in the USA has regressed to the point that I will now have to work full time until the ripe old age of 92! When I received my first ministerial license in the Church of God denomination at age 17, I thought for sure that I would be the General Overseer by now, or at least on the Executive Committee: Not happening! When I started pastoring at age 19, I thought for sure that I would be leading a church of at least three to four thousand by now, not three to four hundred. Truthfully though, I am very grateful to God that He has blessed me far beyond what I deserve, even if it's not what I dreamed.

Looking forward, my plans are different than the first half of my life. The first half was all about reaching goals, but the second half will be about reaching people. The first half was about what I can accomplish, but the second half will be about what I can impart. There is a word that stands out in my thoughts like a strobe light in a dark room: LEGACY. That word keeps flashing brightly. The more attention I give to this word the clearer the message becomes.

One of the greatest gifts to me in this life is the gift of a godly heritage. My father and his father were both pastors and great men of God. They passed on a rich heritage of ministry that gave me years of knowledge and insight as a pastor. I want my sons to have the same godly heritage passed on to them, but I want something more. There is something greater than a heritage and that is a LEGACY.

Legacy is defined by Webster's Dictionary as simply "anything inherited from an ancestor," but a legacy is so much more. A legacy is not something that you just give, it's something that you live. It's not a noun, or even an adjective; legacy is a verb - it's a doing, a being. Legacy is a lifestyle that is imparted into an individual or a group. This impartation is not genetic, like good looks or physical traits. A legacy is learned, not earned. In learning, some things are just caught while other things must be taught. An individual must be very intentional about passing on a legacy. Legacy is intentional mentoring - teaching others important things that bring peace, success, love and fruitfulness. Passing on a legacy is passing on a way of doing things, and leaving a legacy is the best way to continue the fruit of your life far beyond your lifespan. When you leave a legacy others continue to do what you did with your life, but at a greater level. In fact, the more people you mentor the more fruit your life produces. It's kind of like the miracle of compounded interest. The further you go in time the fruit of your life is exponentially multiplied.

Jesus understood legacy. He knew that His time on earth was short, and He would not be able to reach every person on earth with the limitations of being robed in flesh. Accordingly, He passed on a legacy into twelve men He called His disciples. He intentionally spent time and gave life to these twelve men and commissioned them to continue His mission. We call this the "great commission," that is, our co-mission with Christ to save the world. Jesus touched a lot of people in His fewer than fifty years, but through the legacy He passed on to 12 men He continues to reach the billions of people across the globe. That's a legacy, and that's the kind of mission that I want to spend my remaining years establishing.

So here we go. Fifty years of life and experiences that I can spend the rest of my life imparting to others. It could just be that the second half will be much more productive than the first! I will try my best to make it so.