What do you want to be like at the end of your faith journey?
When you're full of years, leaning on your staff, what kinds of messages will you impart to others? Curses or blessings?
Author/ pastor Mark Buchanan wants to go out like Jacob did. Mark's vision infected me, and you can catch it too in this excerpt from Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down. -Adam Forrest, Zondervan
 Mark Buchanan |
I have made Hebrews 11:21 an icon for my own journey: "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff."
That's the faith I want to live and die by.
In Jacob, the sign of that faith is a man who, though doddering and muttering, spends his last breath, his last strength, in worship and in blessing. And the ones he blesses are the children. He does not spend his meager breath and failing strength complaining about how loud the music is, how unruly and ungrateful the youth of today are, how poorly designed the facilities are... He worships and he blesses. And the young ones receive his blessing as gift and as treasure. The children have his example to guide their own lives by. They have his legacy of faith passed down.
It's how I want to finish.
I think of the wisdom of the Cowichan people, the First Nations tribe in the region where I live. One of the former chiefs of the Cowichans told me, "Every time we gather as a people, the purpose of our gathering is to make the world better and safer for our children." "Men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there."
May our churches be the epicenter of this, a healing of the generations.
- Mark Buchanan
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Learn more about Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down.
Suggested Posts
Unity: The Christian's Calling Card via Mark Buchanan
Smell of Dirt and Magnify the Lord via Ann Voskamp
How to Share God's Peace with Others via Mark Buchanan
(Some styling above is a web-exclusive feature not included in the text of Your Church Is Too Safe. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)
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