Liebe Geschwister


Diese Woche sende ich Euch die inspirierenden Gedanken von John Stanko, der sich überlegt, was er nach seinem Ableben als Zusammenfassung seines Lebens auf seinem Grabstein stehen haben möchte.

Eine gesegnete Zeit Euch in der Gegenwart des Herrn,

Wir sind Seine Familie in IHM
Euer Bruder in IHM - Stefan Wenninger

PS: auf der Homepage von JIL (siehe Link unten) gibt es einen neuen Bereich "INSPIRATION" mit Hintergrundbildern mit Bibelversen, wie sie auch in den Mails hier enthalten sind. Im Gegensatz zu den kleinen Bilder hier sind die Bilder zum Download in Originalgröße.

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www.jesus.at.tf - www.christusjesus.info

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This week I was having fun trying to decide what epitaph (Grabschrift) I should request for my tombstone.  That may not sound like fun, and I truly hope I won’t need to reach a final decision any time soon.  But I must be doing now whatever it is that I want people to remember me for.  With that in mind, I thought I should give it some thought to make sure I’m on target now.  Stephen Covey goes one step further; he asks his readers to write their funeral eulogy (Grabrede) today.  Covey states that you must be doing now what it is that you want to be remembered for then.

 

I’ve come up with five finalists for my epitaph and thought I would share them with you this week.  

  1. Here lies a man of purpose.  People ask me how I do all that I do.  I answer that I stopped doing what I can’t do.  Purpose helps you focus on what you do best and I want to be known as someone who knew how to say “no” because I knew what my “yes” was.  Do you know what your “yes” is?  If so, are you doing it as much as possible?
  2. John Stanko always had time.  I am learning to have faith for money, business and other people’s success.  I am also trying to have faith for time.  In the Old Testament, Joshua asked the sun to stand still so he could finish the work he had to do, and the sun did so.  I want to be known as someone who kept his priorities in order and then had faith to do what was most important.
  3. This man served others.  A servant-leader is one who knows how to come alongside other people and serve their highest priority needs.  I don’t just want to be polite; I want to know how to listen to what people are saying they need, what they are saying they want to do, and then devote my time and energy to make them successful.  I want to help others grow, offering my gifts, time and purpose to help them do just that.
  4. John knew how to laugh.  The joy of the Lord is my strength. If I’m not doing what I enjoy, then I don’t have God’s strength.  The only substitute for God’s strength is my own strength and that is a poor substitute.  I want to be able to laugh at myself and make others laugh so that they can enjoy God and what they were created to do.  I want to have fun working.
  5. Here lies a man who was a bit crazy.  I want to be crazy like Abram (which means exalted father), who changed his name to Abraham (father of a multitude) before he had any children!  I want to be crazy like Moses who led people to the Red Sea, where the Egyptians had him trapped, only to watch the Sea part before him.  In other words, I want to do things in faith that defy the natural odds, but that were done in obedience to God’s voice.

 

There you have my five nominations.  But rather than spend time evaluating mine, why not write your own this week?  What legacy (Vermächtnis) would you like to leave behind?  Whatever it is, you had better get busy doing it now or that legacy will be just a pipedream (Luftschloss).  We are not guaranteed tomorrow, let alone (ganz zu schweigen) the next 10 years.  I hope you won’t need your epitaph for a long time to come, but you need to be doing what that epitaph represents today or you may start too late.  Have a great week !