Legacy

 I have a little boy. He is the most amazing thing in my life. Every single day he grows bigger. He is getting smarter daily, he is getting physically larger daily. He is my pride and joy.

Every night before he goes to bed I sing him a little song. It is nothing extraordinary or mind-blowing. It may be simple but what I like about it that the song is only for him. Here it goes.

Oh son of mine, I shall love you forever more.
Oh boy of mine, you shall always be in my heart.
Oh son of mine, I will protect you for all of my days.
Oh boy of mine, you are my pride and joy.
You are the flesh of my flesh.
You are the blood of my blood.
Oh son of mine, I shall love you forever more.
Oh boy of mine, I shall love you forever more.

I love singing this to him. I pick him up and he gives me a great big hug and he rests his head on my shoulder. As long as I sing to him he won't move a muscle. Sometimes I'll sing the song two, three or even four times just so I could hold my boy a little longer. He doesn't mind when I sing longer because it means he doesn't have to go to bed yet!

I love me boy very, very much. He really is my pride and joy.

When I think about my son I think about him growing up and what kind of man he will be. Most of the time I just wonder what his personality will be or what kind of things he will like and dislike. Will he like sports like me? Will he like video games like me? Will he like to write like me? Will he be horrible at math like me? Will he be caring and full of love like his mother? Will he be smart and very good looking like his mother? Will he always have a smile on his face like his mother?

Or will he be like both of us? Or will he be like neither of us?

Will he be a man of God?

That one always get me.

I don't know what he will like or won't like. I don't know what his personality will or will not be. He will be his own unique wonderful person.

No matter who he turns out to be the one thing I want to see in him is godliness. To have a fear of the Lord and a passion for Christ.

I can't control that, no matter how much I wish I could just say "Son, you will be a good follower of Jesus or I will give you a spanking!" I cannot force him to be what I want.

All I can do is be the best example I can be.

My father is the greatest man I know. In every way you can imagine he is my hero and my role model. He is also the godliest man I could think of. He never tried to "make" me godly. Never tried to force me to believe in Christ. Instead he lead by example. I can say the absolute number one reason for my faith in Christ is my father, bar none. Instead of telling me how to do something or forcing me to believe this he showed me how it was done every single day.

I would like to think that my dad doesn't even realize how much I watched him when I was growing up. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But the fact remains I watched him very, very carefully. By watching how he would handle situations and by watching how he would deal with problems showed me the right way to do things.

I want to do that for my son.

My dad left a legacy. He left me. He left his mark on me and now I want to leave my mark on my son.

It is going to take time. A lot of time. For my dad to leave his mark on me took 23 years. Even today I learn from watching my dad.

I'm willing to put that time and effort into my own son. I'm ready to starting leaving my mark o my son. Lord willing he will become a godly young man like me and like my father and his father before him.

I am so excited to watch my boy grow up and show him how to live a godly life.

Now I am not perfect. I am far from perfect. I am probably as far from perfect as you can get. I still have a lot to learn but I am excited to learn so I can teach my son.

I want to leave a legacy. My dad once told me "The greatest gift any parent can receive is seeing their grandchildren growing up to be godly men and women."

I put the emphasis on grandchildren because that really is the whole point. If you pour your efforts into to being a good example for your children and showing them how to live godly lives the best reflection of that would be to see their children growing up to be godly.

More than anything I want to give this gift to my father. And someday I want Clayton to give this gift to me.

This is a legacy people. Something that my father left to me. Something I plan to leave to my son. Something that I hope and pray will carry down through generations and generations.

This is dedicated to my dad and my son. I love you both.