FAMILY HISTORY

It isn't always easy to follow in someones footsteps. Sometimes the bar is high and reaching it is far beyond our grasp. There are some good things to follow and then there are some bad ones. Godly character and integrity, honesty, faithfulness and genuine love are some things that I wouldn't mind others to follow me for, especially my children. Hopefully, what I am passing down is of great eternal value and something worthy to follow.

Unfortunately, I have seen firsthand, that in family relationships, what we pass on is not always the best. Not only spiritually but physically as well. Possibly you have a family history of something like heart disease or cancer. Such illnesses may strike generation after generation in your family tree. This evening I got word that my step brother had passed away. I haven't seen him in many years as he was much older than me and never lived with us, but hearing of his death caused me to think about the things that we pass down, the things we have control over and even those things that we have no control over. Mike, my step brother, died at the same age as my step-dad and from the same thing. It may be coincidence but it could also be something that just runs in the family history.

When I think about what I may be handing down to my own children and grandchildren, I am hoping it is not anything that will be detrimental to their health....either physically or spiritually.

It is my prayer that the path I lead them and others down is one that leads to God. Peter reminds us in 2 Peter that Jesus left us a path to follow...

21 "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." (2 Peter 2:21)

However, we make it difficult to walk in His footsteps. Jesus said, "Follow me!" But instead of following Him, we question Him and choose a different path to take. Forgetting all too soon that He has already blazed the trail ahead of us.

When I think of footsteps that I want to follow, I cannot think of any better steps than His. May the history in my family change from passing down illness and diseases to passing down life...eternal life, that is!

Every person's steps are ordered by God, but we have to follow the right path! Who are you following and where is it leading you?