What do you want on your tombstone? I'm not talking about a pizza ad. I've spent some time on the counsellor's couch. It was during a dark period in my life. My marriage was crashing. In the grip of an ongoing bad habit, no visible hope of getting out. No vision for my future, no (seeming) hope for my present. During one of my sessions, my counsellor asked these questions: How many people do you want at your funeral? What do you want them to say about you? What don't you want them to say about you? What do you want on your tombstone?What I didn't want said was easier. "Nice guy. Lukewarm. Always seeking, never arriving." What I wanted said-more difficult.
It's been 5 years or so since I sat on that couch. My perspective is much clearer now. Hope for life is consistently visible. Some of the answers to the questions clearer; some I'm still wrestling with. At my service, I'd like to see the church full of folks. I want them to say I was a little intense. That I was a good father. That Hailey's passion for Christ reflects my heart. That I knew God, and His joy, and that I desired that others embrace that Joy as well.
On my tombstone: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves..." (2 Cor. 4:7). Beloved father of Hailey, Lover of Christ, Servant to men.
What do you want on your tombstone?
"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but that I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."
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