LEGACY

          Hey everyone, Sorry I haven’t been staying up with writing the way I should. I am going to get it figured out and get more content up soon. 

          Tonight, I sat at T.G.I.Friday’s with my wife, her Grandmother, her Uncle Kevin and his wife Wendy. As many conversations go with the Sweeney clan you cannot talk long before a story about the patriarch of the family, Ed Sweeney, comes up. Ed passed away on July 21st of 2008 and yet in my new family we talk about him daily. The legacy this man has left behind is something to strive for. I absolutely love Ed Sweeney stories and the look in my wife’s eye when she tells them is one of my favorite things!

          I only knew Ed after he had his stroke. He was a shell of his former self yet always welcomed me into his family with open arms. I truly regret not being able to meet him in his prime however I think that’s what legacy is all about. The memories, the stories, the enduring things that last. 

          As an example of how to live my life I often look to my grandfather Charles and to the tales of Ed on how to lead and guide my family. I feel like my generation is bent on making in on their own. Pulling themselves by their own boot straps if you will. This is something that I’ve seen exemplified in my life growing up with Charles. Hard work, smart spending, sound thinking, yet when push came to shove he never hesitated to stop anything he was doing to pick us up, before we were bigger than him, and ask us what was going on! Grandpa took us fishing, and not just took us but taught us the ins and outs of how it was done. In today culture this is a lost art. The right way, the time-tested tried and true ways of doing things are going by the wayside, people can learn to fish, make bait and experiment with new techniques on YouTube, and guess who doesn’t use you tube!?!? You guessed it!! The legacy generation!! Young men my age go to the internet when they have a problem and that’s a HUGE problem!! There are wise men who have lived life and know the answers to all these questions we are constantly asking Google for help with. 

          The Model that has perfectly be laid out for me is this. Walk humbly with God. Don’t just know about God, KNOW GOD! Be his friend, allow him to guide you where you should go and actually follow him where he leads you!

           Second to God put your family. Take time! I knows that is a pretty abrupt phrase but I felt like Grandpa always had time on his hands to spend with us and that was because he took it. He made it happen, not just once, but every single time, and this was a lot. My grandfather worked with my parents, in the same town we grew up in. I probably saw the man every day and sometimes twice a day. He always hugs me! ALWAYS!! As I have grown older I tried shaking his hand and that was something that was not for me. I was closer than that! I was family! That is how this deal works. 

          Thirdly, Honor God and your family in your work. Do you notice how these things build on each other? If one of these things gets crooked it all falls apart yet he has never wavered. He built a very successful business never compromising. In a world today where companies take short cuts to pad their pocket Grandpa would never think of suck a thing. He can hold his head tall at the end of the day knowing he didn’t swindle, cheat, or cut any corners and earned his money. He also worked side by side with his wife and daughters, son-in-law, and countless church friends who needed jobs. He didn’t always hire experts but by honoring God in his business, it always worked out. 

          Trust Me, I can and probably will write a whole other blog soon about the marriage of my grandparents, it’s simply too much for this post. However I can say that I have never once questioned that he loved my grandma more than anything short of his God.

          I want to say thank you  to Ed Sweeney for everything he has meant to my wife. He was her best friend and I think that is maybe the highest honor you can give someone, to call them your best friend! He meant more to her than he probably even knew and I’m so thankful for him and his legacy.

          As far as my grandfather, Charles I love you and I simply cannot imagine life without your wisdom guiding me along the way. Thank you for always being there and for never compromising so that I would know how to do the same thing in my life. Thank you for showing me Jesus and teaching me, my father, my bother and my uncles so that we have the ability to be Godly daddies someday! For those of you that know Charles you know what kind of spiritual legacy he will leave one day and the kind of one he currently maintains. A Family devoted to Christ. Serving and striving for him in every aspect. From ministers, to church planters, to musicians, to teachers, to missionaries,  to salesmen who stand for Christ, business men who give their money with grace and joy and even PhD’s who shine Christs light in the darkness( Charles will try to take credit for Kristin but she will give that to Ed.) 

          I would be remiss to write all this and not ask you when the last time you went to Sunday school was. It drives some of you nuts about my grandfather but he will hold your feet to the fire and make sure you are in church where you should be! Even if its one that doesn’t sing from the hymnal or makes you wear a belt! And I continue to pray this prayer even though my part of the family is small, it’s a prayer that has echoed through now 4 Generations of Haley’s ( welcome little Timothy I love you buddy!)

          And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, ESV)

          Thank you Lord for Ed Sweeney and Charles Haley!

Wade *|||||||*