A good friend of mine wrote a poem intitled: Legacy.  As you read this, just spend some time honestly answering some of the questions that the poet brings to light. 

What kind of legacy will I leave?  What will people say of me?

When I am no longer around, when my bones are underground;

What will they say?  What will they say of me?

Will they remember a godly man?  Will they say that I followed the Master’s plan?

Or will they hang their head in shame, and say I brought reproach to His Name?

What will they say?  What will they say of me? 

CHORUS:

Let it be said that I followed Jesus.

Let it be said that I conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Let it be said that I was faithful.

For faithful is He, Who started a work in me, which He will perfect in eternity.

What will my family say of me, When they give a witness publicly,

Of how I lived in privacy, where only they could see?

What will they say?  What will they say of me?

Will they say that I lived righteously?  Led a life of integrity?

Or will they only laugh at me and say my life was hypocrisy?

What will they say?  What will they say of me?

CHORUS:

Let it be said that I followed Jesus.

Let it be said that I conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Let it be said that I was faithful.

For faithful is He, Who started a work in me, which He will perfect in eternity.

What will Jesus say of me, Before the throng in eternity;

When I stand before His throne, and He makes my secrets known?

What will He say?  What will He say of me?

Will He say “Well done my son, you have been a faithful one?”

Or will He say, “Depart from Me, to condemnation eternally?”

What will He say?  What will He say of me?

CHORUS:

Let it be said that I followed Jesus.

Let it be said that I conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Let it be said that I was faithful.

For faithful is He, Who started a work in me, which He will perfect in eternity.

What will people say of you, When your life is finally through?

You know they’re watching every day, to see if you’re following the way!

What will they say?  What will they say of you?

Will they say you were a holy one, a faithful follower of God’s Son?

Or will they say you were a fraud, you only spoke of following God?

What will they say?  What will they say of you?

CHORUS:

Let it be said that you followed Jesus.

Let it be said that you conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Let it be said that you was faithful.

For faithful is He, Who started a work in thee, which He will perfect in eternity.

 (Fouad Farris)

Not only are we movie buffs, but we are also hopeless, romantics.  We believe in true love and wish that everyone in the world would experience it.  So during the movie we are totally rooting for Rachel and Dex to tell each other that they are in love and live happily ever after.  Well in the movie they do end up getting together and the movie ends with a happily ever after.

After the movie, we were filled with all these warm and bubbly feelings. Then I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if life were a movie?  You see in real life, when a person falls in love with their best friend’s fiance, it never ends happily ever after, does it?  But we all want to believe that love justifies and even overcomes wrong doing.  But here is the truth, no matter how much Rachel and Dex were in love, they were dead wrong for acting on those feelings.  But it seems so nice in the movies.

If you have found yourself in a similar situation, I pray that you will wake up and come to your senses and confess your sin to God and ask Him for forgiveness.  Here is the good news: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9)

During each game, there was one critical error that took place.  Ironically, both errors occurred on the Special Teams.  For the Ravens, the kicker missed the last field goal that would have sent the game into overtime giving them a chance to win the game.  For the 49ers, the kick returner fumbled the ball in overtime, which gave the ball back to the Giants who went down and scored a field goal to win the game.

From a fan’s perspective, the special teams are often over looked.  When the special teams units do their jobs correctly, you hardly ever hear about it.  If you watch the games you probably realize that the television networks generally don’t show many replays of the special teams.  When a field goal is kicked or a punt is fair caught in the air, they often cut to a commercial never to bring up what happened on the play.  However, if there is a mistake, then they will replay it over and over again.

This got me to thinking, in the Christian life there are key fundamentals.  These fundamentals if done correctly, hardly ever get any attention.  However, if you have poor fundamentals, it can lead to costly mistakes that can cause you to lose more than you want to.  Often times people make critical errors in life and they try to blame it on their circumstances.  The truth is just like the players in the game yesterday, we cannot blame our mistakes on our circumstances.

While there are many fundamentals that can lead to success in life, there is one that Paul speaks about that can cover pretty much all of them.  Ephesians 4:1 I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.  What Paul is telling us is “Do what you are suppose to do!” This sounds so simple, but its easy to say and much harder to do.  I find that this concept is common knowledge, but not common practice.  Why is that?  When we try to do right in our own strength it will lead to disaster.  We need the help of the Lord to keep us on track.

I began to think wow, all that show for a quarter rep! This dude is nothing but smoke and mirrors!  But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.  It seems that no matter where you go these days, the world is filled with pretenders.  Those who make great claims, but their lives don’t live up to the hype.  Just take a look at the Republican primaries and you will find this to be true.  In the bible Jesus had strong words for those whose lives are just smoke and mirrors.  In Matthew 23 he gives warnings to the crowd about following the Scribes and Pharisees.  (v.3) so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do.  For they preach, but do not practice.  Next he goes into a series of woes to warn then about their behavior.

Now I don’t think that Jesus would have any negative words about my man in the gym who was pretending to be stronger than he truly was, but he does have plenty to say to us who pretend to be one thing, but are really another.  He calls us hypocrites! (v.25) You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Then he tells us what to do if our lives are just smoke and mirrors. (v.26) First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.  In other words, work on being the best you that you can be and stop pretending to be better than you really are!

During the interview it came up that Ebert has also battled with alcoholism for years and one of the questions asked by the reporter was “what caused you to start drinking in the first place?”  Ebert said, “nothing caused me to start drinking, I have a disease.” Is it just me, or does it sound like Roger is saying that its not his fault that he became an alcoholic?

Now it is not my intent to get all “holier than thou,” but does it seem that when bad things happen to us, we tend to try and pass the buck? I realize that alcoholism is considered a disease, but is it not a self-inflicted disease?  Is one born an alcoholic?  Lets not get into a nature vs. nuture debate here, I have my own personal opinions but now is not the time fo that.  I just want to close with a passage of scripture written by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:7 which says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.” I would think a better answer to the reporters question would have been, “I shouldn’t have ever taken a drink in the first place.”