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Insight's to the Word with Pastor Teague!
Wow! What a day! We had two great services! I was long-winded (go figure) in the second service due to a desire to wrap up a two-part series on Chrislam (the perverted attempt to syncretize Christianity and Islam). If you were in the second service then please accept my sincerest apologies for keeping you longer than I wanted to and long enough for numbness to settle into your hind-end. Thank you for your patience.
I attended two funerals in two days this week. One in Canton, Ohio where we attended the funeral of our denominational state bishops wife who passed away due to cancer. She was a unique woman of God who truly left a legacy for all who knew her. On Saturday I attended the funeral of a man I had only met once but whose daughter attended our church. Our staff did an outstanding job at coordinating this particular service due to my absence. Pastor Chris Varnell did a superb job in the pulpit. Her usual very efficient preparedness was once again the icing on the cake for her message. Pastor Aaron and Pastor Dave joined in to make Saturday’s funeral something I think the family was proud of. My role was minimal and gave me the opportunity to see our staff in full forward motion. They did an awesome job at serving this grieving family.
I received a note from my precious daughter in law after our first service today that broke my heart. Her uncle Hack (a pastor in West Virginia) has taken a turn for the worse. In an ICU unit with heart complications the news today wasn’t good. I can only pray that God through His Spirit enable this family to deal with the ongoing stress of his long-term stay in the intensive care unit. He has been over eight weeks. He is in need of a direct miracle in order to survive. I ask you to join me in praying for him.
In attending these funerals several things came to mind. I have never done a funeral and I doubt you have ever attended a funeral that we don’t think of our own morality. Paul the apostle wrote about death and dying when he penned his remarks to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 15).
Mortality. This noun is defined as “the state or condition of being subject to death.” I have often ridden in the hearse after doing a service and wondered something that may be a bit morbid to some of my readers: “What if that were me?” Yep! I know! Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But yet we all know that we as mortal beings have an appointment with death. Oh it won’t pop up in our Blackberry or our iPhone calendars – but its out there – just waiting for us. Question is this: with this information in hand are we ready for this appointment? I titled this blog “Determination and Death – A Necessary Combination!” Let me explain.
Determination is my attempt to prepare for such an appointment – my death. Lord have mercy it is so weird just writing about it! Not in legal preparation with a will and insurance policies (isn’t it amazing how that we are all worth more monetarily dead than alive?) and all that other stuff. Kim and I took care of all that a long time ago. I’m talking about the personal stuff. I’t talking about our family. I’m talking about those interpersonal relationships we have. I have a determination to leave something more than a fading memory. I want to leave a legacy – a “life template” I call it. I want to leave a mark on someone’s life that will enable them to become a better follower of Christ than they currently are. Yeah! A “life template.”
I want my wife to know that I have given her my best. I have loved her unconditionally. I have given her my all and all. I have never not given her 100% of me. I look back at all the times “duty” called me away from home, from her and my two sons and I get red in the face. Red due anger over my lack of possibly making changes to stop those occasions from being repetitious. Red due to my embarrassment in letting it happen so many times. Her sitting at home by herself while I was out taking care of everyone else’s family. I can only strive to leave a mark on her life that she can know without a doubt I love her more than anything else in the world. Time nor space will allow me to share with you what a phenomenal woman Kim is! Amazing! She is a perfectionist and has an obsessive compulsive personality. She is a driven woman with unbelievable skills of organization. How she has put up with me for so many years is only to be considered a miracle. An absolute miracle! (To those who know me you can leave your personal comments to yourself!)
I want my two sons to know they are loved as no one else could love them. As a father I am so proud of both of my sons. Their work ethic is a rare treasure for most young men their age. They provide for their family with tender care. They protect their family with the strength of an army. They love like their mother modeled for them to love – unconditionally. They love the woman God gave them to the degree that I stand amazed. They love the Lord Jesus Christ and know the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in their lives – I could ask for nothing more out of either of them. I am so very proud of both of them. They make my day when they call or I call them. It may be only a few moments of conversation but it makes my day. Nothing like hearing the voices of my sons. It is the neatest thing to see their number come up on my cell phone caller ID.
Kim and I were blessed with a young woman who married my youngest son that is awesome! Josh found in Natalie a woman who still looks at him like she did when they were “courting.” She is a homemaker, educator, business woman and an awesome mother to my granddaughter. She is quick to speak her mind, seldom misses her target in relationship to her thoughts and she loves my son and my granddaughter as no one else can. She is awesome. I am confident her father in law gets on her nerves once in a while because I am obsessed with their daughter. They have given Kim and I a granddaughter that God Himself stamped the word “approved” on. She is the best! I think of her almost every minute of every day. I think this may wear down some – but I doubt it.
My oldest son has endured a life challenge that was devastating. Suffering through an unsolicited divorce he turned the corner by his own admission by hanging tight to his faith and his prayer life. He learned that from his mother! His faith and tenacity paid off and he has found a young woman who I believe has been a gift to him. She is lovely person inside and out. She loves the Lord and chases after God and I couldn’t ask for more for him at this point in his life. She takes care of him in such a loving and kind way. She really has fallen in love with Brad and gave him his smile back. Brad is hard working and self disciplined. He loves life, loves God and I trust will soon discover how much he loves Chantiell and locks in on her heart with laser accuracy. He has discovered that you can find love again – and he is discovering that trust is something that grows out of love itself. I am proud of him.
You see I am determined to love my family with the type of love that would leave a “life template” for them to follow. I want to leave them more than material things and a funeral to arrange along side of their mother. I want to them to know life. I want to leave them a legacy – not just a memory. I am determined to leave no questions unanswered.
Leaving a legacy involves something hinged to law. Legacies cannot be easily done away with. They “hang around” due to their significance, impact and almost eternal make up. The word “legacy” comes from the word “legate” which means “a legal representative.” In other words when we leave a legacy we are leaving someone to carry on as a representative of our life. I want my life to be carried on by others in the sense that they follow Christ. I think this is what Paul meant when he said, “Be followers of me eve as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11.1).
A memory is the recollection of facts or events. Here today and gone tomorrow – depending on what provokes the thought. Not all memories are good ones. I want more than memories about me when I am gone. I want to leave a legacy. I want to leave a “life template” for others to follow and I want that template to point to Christ.
I have lived and I have loved. I have loved my family. I have loved the Lord Jesus Christ. I have loved my friends and my confidants. I have loved my church congregations. I have loved the Word. I have loved pastoring and shepherding God’s people. I can only hope that when they shut the casket on my body and place that box in the ground that I will have left a legacy. I am determined to leave more than memories, monetary value, a few tools, a ton of books and some worn our clothes. I am determined to leave a life template. In death my desire will hopefully be revealed. I can hope that my determination now will leave a legacy then.
Pastortimteague's Blog 
first of all, thank you for being so transparent. i read your blog everyday you write. obviously, i dont always comment, but i do think about whats said. whats remembered is love, so your legacy is intact.i cherish our friendship. keep on pouring yourself into those around you!