A Godly Heritage

Yesterday a young lady, Brooke posted a picture of her grandparents and her dad in a church service using it to describe her Godly heritage.  Having known the family even before her dad was born, I can attest she has a had a Godly heritage.  But as I looked at the picture the Lord began to show me something. 
My friends will recognize these folks if I can get the picture to up load.  Jim is singing, his hand raised to heaven.  He is one of the most talented people I know.  He can sing, play, preach, teach, organize.  He is a people person and can talk to anyone.  He has the ability to follow the Holy Spirit in a service and stay tuned with where God wants him to go musically or if it's time to turn things over.  I call him my 'big brother' because I never had one of those but if I had one, I would have wanted one like him.
Carol is playing the organ and she is watching Jim closely.  It doesn't matter where he goes or what direction he heads musically she will be right there providing the notes to make his singing even better.  She is the most Godly woman I've ever met.  She tends to stay in the background, yet she is talented in her own right.  She plays, she sings, she teaches, but more importantly she lives the finest example of Christ to people I've ever seen. I am blessed to call her my friend.
Travis is their son, he is in the background in this pic with both hands in the air praising God.  He not only inherited the physical talents of his parents, he followed their Godly example.  In the picture he is full out praising God!  He is listening to the voice of the Father who is blessing him.  He is a lot like his dad with a good bit of his mom thrown in.  Do I sound biased?  I am because I've seen their example, I've learned from their teaching.
So Brooke is right, she has a Godly heritage.  Her mother, Michele, is a wonderful Christian as well.  Brooke is blessed and she knows it.  Not nearly enough children grow up with that heritage and as we look in the mirror we see the reasons why. 
But looking at the picture I see some other things too.  Each person is doing what God wants them to do at that moment, there is no 'jockeying' for position.  There is no jealousy of what God is doing in each of the other two. God wants that of us.  He has given us gifts and those gifts are to be used for His honor and glory.
Now if I wanted to get in a 'worldly frame of mind', I could be downright jealous of those 3.  Their singing ability, their musical ability, the doors God has opened over the years could all cause me to feel envious.  Yet I've walked some of those miles that took them there.  I've seen the trials, the pain, the frustration, the confusion and at times the oppression they have lived through to get there.  God has them there because they went through the fire and they have come forth as gold.  They didn't run when the going got tough, they didn't give up with others 'hated' them or bashed them.  Oh, they cried the tears, they felt the pain but they kept their eyes on the cross.
I know for myself there are times that I gave up, I ran, I took my eyes off the cross.  I failed my child, my grandchild because I didn't hold that heritage as sacred as I should have.  And God gives us new mercies every morning so if we have done those things, we can begin again today.  I don't know about you but I want my family to be able to look at pictures and see the good things, the Godly things.  I know there are times that hasn't been what they have seen but my desire is that as they look back, they will find these times that they can look at and see the heritage.  My prayer today is that God will keep me on track, that He will be my focus, that His will be my goal.
I'm thankful that God has allowed me to cross paths with people like the Burns family.  I love them but more importantly I respect them and their Godly heritage.  In today's world we need this type of examples.  We need to be this type of example to our families and friends.