Dan sat at his kitchen table staring at the pictures…
He’d mount them in a frame that had long been empty.
He’d never met the two people in the photographs…
But they were part of him.
They were his grandparents, who died before he was born…
Now, for the first time, he was looking at their pictures.
What had he missed by not knowing them?
He’d never know…
But he wondered…
Because now he was a grandfather…
Would they have read to him as he sat in their laps?
Would they have listened patiently while he told them about his childhood days?
Would they have shared their faith in God?
Would they have told him stories about other ancestors?
Ancestors who were brave and faithful or cowardly and faithless?
What would they have shared with him?
How would they have shaped him?
He thought of his three grandchildren…
How would he shape their lives?
He thought of his own failings…
Would his failings be his gift to his grandchildren?
He chuckled.
He sure had failings…
No point in trying to hide them…
His grand kids would know about his weaknesses without him even telling them…
He thought of a Bible verse…
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
He looked again at the picture of his grandparents…
What kind of picture could he leave for his grandchildren?
And then he knew…
He wanted to leave a picture of faith…
A picture of a man flawed as we all are flawed…
A picture of a man leaning not on his own strength but God’s…
But it wasn’t enough for them to know about him and his faith…
He needed to leave them a picture of a long line of people who put their faith in God…
A line of people stretching all the way back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…
People whose examples of faith they could follow…
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us… Hebrews 12:1
How could he make sure they knew?
He wasn’t smart enough or good enough to leave behind the picture they deserved…
“Only God can do it.” he thought.
He felt humbled as he realized the truth of what he had just said.
The only way to leave a picture of faith, was to have faith himself…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
