Day 87.

As I reflect on 55 years of adult life I realized that people in churches and schools I had been in stood out in my mind the same way as my childhood and teenage memories had. It is usually just one or two things that made them a snapshot in my mind. – Wally was an old sage, and I still plagiarise some of his words. He used to say from time to time, “What fools we mortals be.” Then I became an English teacher and discovered he was quoting Shakespeare. Olivine was a saint, always faithful and industrious. This person was kind, that one reliable, another generous. – Jenny and Ray helped when I needed it most, Eric was encouraging and supportive (and good for laughs).
Then there were others; those that were always intent on being right rather than being loving or kind. One of them even had the name Grace! I recall an old minister telling me as a young intern, that there would at least one everywhere you go and there was! That’s his snapshot. There are many faces with illusive names, but still, they are memories. The good, the bad and ….

So, what do they remember me for? If I have one snapshot in their memory album, what is it of? What are you remembered for? Are you kind, compassionate, generous, or encouraging or are you prickly and legalistic or something else? I think of all those young people in churches I have pastored, or the multitude I baptized. Where are they, what has become of them. Will they reach the shores of life ready for the ceaseless ages of eternity?

But more importantly, what will God remember you for? My spiritual journey also has images in the mental picture book. The victories and the failures are there. As Leonard Cohen, while reflecting on king David’s life of victories and personal in that wonderful chorus ‘Hallelujah’ said “Life is not a march down victory lane.” Maintaining spirituality in a crisis is the essence of faith, and people of faith push through life’s experiences of disappointments and failures and gain depth & wisdom as a result (They say age is the price you pay for wisdom).

Am I then a man of faith? This is what is important to God. Will He remember me; am I in His book of remembrance? This is God’s picture gallery – the hall of faith. Heb 11 we know, but Mal 3: 16,17 says, “those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. “They will be mine” says the Lord Almighty “in the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them…”

Wow!!! God has a book of remembrance! Of course, God doesn’t need books, it is conceptual language reminding us that a record is being kept. Am I then a man of faith? This is what is important to God. Will He remember me; am I in His book of remembrance?