Let It Be Written

If you saw something beautiful in a people, a place, a thing; If you heard about something captivating and fantastic; If you felt something soothing and wonderfully therapeutic; If you knew that you were soundly built on a solid foundation; Would you not feel compelled to pass it on, to tell the ones you love; to write it down so that all may benefit?

If you knew that your life experiences were not just for you alone, would you not share them? Would you not celebrate them? Would you not embrace them? Would you not build upon them? Would you not write them down, and pass them on to the next generation? For me, the answer is a thousand times, yes!

I am both happy and obligated to tell you about a father who was a gifted provider for his family, and also looked out for many others who were under his supervision; I feel blessed to tell you about a mother who was endowed with incomparable gifts of patience and love; I feel privileged to tell you about a grandmother who to me was nothing less than a guardian angel; I am reminded to tell you about the great family times with my many sisters and brothers; with heartfelt emotions, I tell you about all the fun we had playing “old maid”, eating hot sweet “tea cakes”, and enjoying all the “popcorn” we could eat.

I must tell my children and write in a book that each of them was born in a different state, as we labored in ministry for our God from place to place. Let them know that we sought as best we could to fulfill the plan and purpose of God for our lives. Let them know that as they were being conceived in Wisconsin, Mississippi, and California, we were also planting eternal seeds for God. Let them know that there is nothing that we have ever done for God or people that will ever be in vain. Let them hear about it, read about it, and then draw and glean from the experiences of each page. From these pages and God’s word and his Mighty Hand, let them construct a pattern that fits their life and purpose.

I am delighted to tell my grandchildren that there was a time before televisions, video games, cell phones, and the internet. Yes, it was a memorable time when we learned how to mix fun, hard work, and dreams; out of which we made one great blend of a tolerated present and the promise of a brighter future. I tell you such blending was a vital part of a strong building block and a bridge to future generations.

I must confess that sometimes I do need others to understand the reason for all this writing. Sometimes I sense the need to explain to others that this writing of poems and short stories is not about me.
I feel compelled to write, to document, to record, and to pass on experiences to the next generation. This is not about a personal therapeutic experience,
or simply a casual trip down a long memory lane.

I must say that in a very real sense, I am trying to help build a better tomorrow for our descendants. Indeed, I am building tomorrow on a foundation requiring more solidity than today’s experiences alone can provide. Tomorrow’s life, the one we are leaving to make room for our children, must be structured on solid rock. Tomorrow promises to be much more challenging than today; so, we must shield them with a strength unattainable from everyday life. It’s important that we leave with them some of the ways and means that we learned, lived by, and succeeded. We will be leaving them more than money, houses, and lands. We will be leaving them far more than cars, IRAs, stocks, and bonds. What we will leave them more than anything else is an example of life and Faith in God, a picture, a pathway, and a vision.

So that is why I write. I must not only tell and teach them survival skills, but I must also leave them a road map and a lesson plan that will paint a portrait of yesterday. I will print for them true life stories about us, about their ancestors, about the people we knew, and the places we went. Some of these stories tell about how we faced great challenges in life and overcame them by faith in God. I pray that our lives will be an inspiration to them. A new generation must arise as the current one begins to grow old. I will write them stories of our early and later years. I will tell them how we persevered and achieved measures of success despite the struggles that we constantly faced. May they see and know that they were the highest priority in our lives, second only to God our Maker. On the printed page, a family history will be written for our children and our children’s children.

So as in the days of old, let it be written. “In the future, when your children ask you, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:6,7 NIV. God wanted to let the stones do the talking about a people who never muddied their feet as they walked through a river whose waters were cut off by their God. God said for them to write it down and let the stones tell the stories of how their mighty God worked wonders for them.

Even so, let the experiences in the faith of years gone by be told to our children and grandchildren. When our children ask about our birth in Mississippi, or our marriage in Illinois, or our ministry and stay in Wisconsin, or our missionary work in Mississippi, or our pastorates in San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Yes, when they ask, let there be a portrait of our lives; let the pages of our family history be open; We will indeed have an answer for them because we will have determined to “Let It Be Written”.