Feel free to reference the links above. The message has little to do with the Scripture passages, they simply exemplify God's calling.
All of us seek purpose, meaning, significance for our lives. We all would like to leave something behind after we’re gone. Something unavoidable that we hope everybody in the world will recognize we accomplished in our short time on this earth. For some the building of that legacy may occur through writing a book, for others achieving the status of Dr., for others many years of faithful service to a prestigious organization, for others discovering something grand that will help the people of the world, and for still others perhaps by having children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. Whatever it happens to be, all of us in some way would enjoy it if future generations would look at our accomplishments and be impressed.
One problem many of us have is getting started. I mean, what field could I really leave my mark in? Well, I can’t make it as a professional athlete and I’m not good enough at science things to cure any diseases, hmmph. Where to even begin? Many of us start on one path and end up on multiple others before we find one that we can excel at and feel comfortable in and good about.
As I looked at the readings posted above, I saw people being called away from their lives to a new life, dedicated to serving the Lord and following Jesus. Perhaps a similar change has happened in your life?
While I’m not old enough to worry about not leaving a legacy behind quite yet, I think it is similar to the teenage angst of thinking I am never going to amount to anything.
I am well versed enough in television to see both of these as major concerns to many people. Can’t you just hear a high-schooler almost yelling I’m never going to amount to anything? Perhaps you’ve heard it from your kids, or perhaps you’ve yelled it yourself. This is a recurring theme on my newest craze of a TV show Lost. Indeed I could probably find a moment where every single character truly wondered if they would ever amount to anything great.
Perhaps some of you are sitting there saying, well, I achieved something great, I’ve left a decent legacy, so then another question becomes what do I do after I’ve achieved that great thing, after I’ve left my legacy. Do I promote the great thing? Do I try to do something even greater? Do I sit back, relax and revel in my accomplishment?
Well, for an example of this, we’ll have to look to another TV show of a different genre than Lost, my all-time favorite show, Seinfeld. This episode is called: the Frogger. In it, George (the stocky balding man with a temper) rediscovers his one truly great accomplishment, a high score on the arcade game Frogger from his old high-school hang out spot. Upon realizing that this record has stood for better than 20 years, and knowing that the place where it sits will soon be shut down, George decides his legacy must live on. He decides to buy the Frogger machine and keep it for himself. He soon realizes (thanks to Jerry) that he won’t be able to simply take it home, once he unplugs the machine, the scores will all be lost and his legacy deleted. So George comes up with this crazy ingenious plan to move the Frogger machine without losing power. And that’s where we begin the clip.
Seinfeld Season 9 - The Frogger 18:45-20:32
Despite all of George’s plans things go wrong, the battery is dying. But he sees the road and the machine and realizes that his entire life has been leading to this one moment. He was born to do this. He had been called to do it. And he fails. His Frogger machine, his pride, and his legacy are all destroyed by that truck and George is left with nothing.
Have you ever felt that way about something you felt called to do? Like it had been destroyed? Perhaps its destruction was a good thing.
It reminds me how the disciples must have felt after Jesus death, before his resurrection. They go back to fishing, what they knew before. Their legacy with Christ, they’re great thing gone. Their leader crucified. They’re left with nothing. But Jesus, unlike George’s Frogger machine isn’t destroyed. Death could not hold our Savior. He rose to life again. And His legacy lives on unto eternity. Amen.
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