Thoughts on life...

It has been a crazy last several weeks for Pam and I. I have finished my semester in seminary, preached at my church, drove to Jacksonville, FL for Thanksgiving, flew to Ocala, FL for Pam's grandma's funeral, drove a total of 1500 miles during Christmas, and am now gearing up for two January classes. Needless to say, blogging has been put on the back burner for me.

But lots of things have been running through my head the last several months. One of the big things I have been thinking a lot about is making my life count. Several things have made me consider this over the last month or so. One major thing is the recent passing of my wife's grandma Ann.

We got a call from Pam's mom on December 4th that her grandma was being rushed to the hospital. After getting two free round trip tickets to Jacksonville from a man in our church (thanks Gerald) we flew to Orlando the next morning to be with the family. On that Saturday Grandma passed away very peacefully.

The 40 something hours we spent at the hospital and the week we spent with my in laws planning the funeral, though sad and full of mourning, were some of the most revealing and challenging days I have had.

I think death often makes us look back at our own lives and consider if we are living in such a way that we would be pleased if we were to go. Not that we had marked everything off our "bucket list," but that we had lived a life of influence.

I didn't know Pam's grandma as well as I wish I did. They lived in Ocala, FL so we only saw them a handful of times in the last couple years. But in the week we spent with her family I learned several things about her. 1) She loved her husband and he loved her too. It was so challenging for me to see the relationship, how much sacrifice and commitment they showed to one another. 2) She loved her family and they knew it. She never missed a birthday, anniversary, or significant event, even if you were technically no longer a part of the family. 3) She loved her faith. The pastor who did her service talked about how much her and Grandpa Lahey sacrificed in there commitment to the church and to helping people. They were founding members of his church plant there in Ocala and she taught Sunday school for children for years and year. 4) She was a light to a lot of people. Grandpa talked about the different places they went throughout their routine every week. Whether McDonald's, Boston Market, or the bank, everywhere they went they brought a little joy into the lives of the workers there, and each place looked forward to seeing the Laheys. 5) She didn't care about her popularity, wealth, or power. They lived a simple life, didn't have high profile jobs, didn't live in a mansion, or eat at pricey places. Those things weren't important to her. She knew what mattered, her faith and her family.

The reason I say this is that it would be easy for us to say that Grandma Lahey lived a simple, ordinary life, nothing extraordinary or revolutionary. The problem with that conclusion is that there are thousands of people that were dramatically influenced by Ann Lahey, whether directly or indirectly. She has 6 children and lots of grandchildren who are doing amazing things, partly because of the grandmother who showed them how to live a life of influence.

For the last few weeks I have thought a lot about my life and have asked the question, "what am I doing to be influential to those around me?" The very reason we are moving to Fargo is to make an influence and hopefully impact the community by starting churches. But what about my everyday comings and goings, am I making a difference? I guess I will keep asking the question because there is always more, alway opportunities.

Sorry this is so long, but it has been a couple months since I posted last. Next time I will try and make it shorter.