This last Thursday would have been my Grandpa Kirkpatrick’s 110th birthday. He died when I was really little, so unfortunately I don’t have many personal memories of him. And aside from a few stories I’ve heard from family here and there I don’t know a whole lot about his life either. I think I’ve heard enough about him to have a general idea of his personality and interests though, and I always enjoy hearing more about him and how his life was growing up 100+ years ago. And while my knowledge of his life is limited, there is one aspect that seems to pour over and intermingle with everything else- he was a man of strong faith. Along with being a pastor and working for the Bible College for a time, I know that he successfully passed on his beliefs to his children. I thought of him this week when I read the verse from Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” I am blessed that my grandpa left me an incredibly substantial inheritance! Of course, you all know that it wasn’t a monetary inheritance- he left his legacy of faith for future generations.

I had another Grandpa as well, and I actually remember him quite a bit. I do think of him very fondly. He was sort of a fun character and I always thought he was interesting and exciting. Unfortunately, he was not a man of faith and the inheritance he left was one of sadness and brokenness. I’m thankful and lucky that my parents did not pass that on to us kids so I don’t have to carry on his brokenness any farther down the family line. Many other families are not so lucky, and it’s easy to see how generations are negatively affected by the mistakes of our ancestors.

So I’ve been thinking lately about the legacy that I’m passing on. It’s hit me recently that I’m building an inheritance for my children right now, it’s not something I can save for in the future. It’s easy to look at life and think, “I’ve got time to do that later” but now is the time. I feel like we’re entering into a stage in the world where our kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews/etc are going to be smacked across the face with a culture that tells them that we are wrong, and crazy and hateful for our beliefs. We might need to save up more of an inheritance for the next generation that any of our ancestors ever had to. By the way, these thoughts aren’t just directed towards parents- we all have people looking to us for guidance whether it be someone in your family or a neighbor kid.

I’d love to know what steps you take to pass on your faith to the future generation, we’ll all need to fight for future generations together so we should share our knowledge and ideas with each other.