Sermon Illustrations on Legacy — page 2

Giving Your Family A Legacy of Faith

2 Timothy 1:5

It was one of those tense moments which ultimately became a turning point in the life of a young building contractor.

If he backed away from his request, he would lose any of the profit originally anticipated. What's more, it would cost him an additional amount sufficient to exhaust his resources and perhaps bankrupt his company. So now he had come to admit his mistake in drawing up the bid and ask for more money.

"Absolutely not!" was the terse reply as the signed contract was waved in his face. "This is your bid and your signature. We chose you over several others because of it. We trusted you to do your homework. You should have included a margin for cost increases. It's too late now to change. You gave us your word."

"It was that last statement that settled the issue for me," the contractor recounted. "He was right. I did give him my word and I had to keep it regardless of what it did to me or my company." Then he shared why keeping his word was of such importance.

"You see, I inherited this business from my father," he said. "On more than one occasion I have seen him eat his profits and, in fact, go in the hole in order to keep his word. Dad would remind me that all we had to trade on was our integrity, and if we sacrificed that, we could not depend on the Lord to bless us. To him, it was more than a matter of integrity, it was a matter of faith in God. He often told us that when he took Christ as his Savior he also made him the CEO of his company. He never wanted to do anything that would give his 'Boss' a bad reputation."

THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE YOUR FAMILY

There is no greater gift you can give to your family members than leaving them a legacy of faith. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul reminds his young protégé that the "unfeigned faith" which he possessed resided first in his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5). They had passed on to him a legacy of faith. It's impossible to give away something you don't originally possess. As personal as salvation is, there is a sense in which we receive it as a gift passed along from God to us by others. Paul was reminding Timothy of his spiritual "roots."

One winter, while away from home on our annual time together, Jeannie and I had a serious talk about what we most desired to leave our children. We both decided that the most important treasure we could pass along would be a legacy of faith. In fact, these words are recorded in my journal: "My greatest desire is that I would be a living illustration of God's faithfulness to those who are simply willing take Him at his word."

Before we returned home, we received word that our house had burned to the ground. We thought it interesting (in light of our discussion) that not one thing was lost in the fire that we felt it crucial for our children to inherit. We saw, in fact, that the manner in which we responded had the potential for even increasing the inheritance we wanted them to receive ... a legacy of faith.

A POINT OF BEGINNING

Every legacy of faith has its point of beginning. I am blessed to be in a family which has in it several generations of preachers. At the most recent count there are 15 preachers spread across four generations. But as best we can tell, our family's legacy of faith stretches back at least two more generations. It was then that a young mother on a train headed back east fell seriously ill. It soon became evident she would die. Calling her unbelieving husband to kneel beside the bench where she lay dying, she made him promise to give not only himself but their new child to God. The next Sunday in a small country church, a rough, angular man stood to testify. Holding his small a child in the air, he said, "Brethren, I have given my life to God and have come today to be baptized." My father is named after that man whose wife's plea marks the beginning point for our family's legacy of faith.

"There was a beginning point for your faith," Paul reminded Timothy. "It dwelt first in your grandmother." With those words we are reminded that every legacy of faith has its point of beginning. Occasionally when telling our family's story, I am confronted by someone who laments, "But I didn't receive a wonderful heritage of faith."

That simply means you have the privilege of being the first in line, the beginning point, for generations to come. What an awesome privilege! Have you thanked God for the honor? Are you passing along the faith God has given you? Our family is thankful for that young mother who in her dying moment passed along a legacy of faith.

IT'S UNDER YOUR WATCH!

Timothy's grandmother made certain that the torch of her faith was passed to her daughter who then passed it to her own son. That is not always the case. On more than one occasion I have talked with parents whose own children "came to church faithfully" but have now "strayed from the faith." Admittedly, we cannot discount the power of personal choice. After all, remember the prodigal son. Neither can we "pass the buck" when it comes to nurturing a growing sense of spiritual heritage. Churches don't raise children ... parents do! How is your family's legacy of faith faring "under your watch?" Is it developing, or disappearing?

A legacy of faith is not "wished" into existence. It takes prayer, personal interest and participation. I sometimes get the impression that a few folks think they can just wake up in the morning, fall out of bed and pass along a legacy of faith. It requires much more than that! It requires what a friend of mine calls "finishing well." A legacy of faith is like a flame. It requires "tending."

INCREDIBLE IMPACT!

Timothy was the recipient of at least two letters penned by the apostle, Paul. Those two letters, inspired by the Holy Spirit, are some of the most significant letters in the New Testament. While we know little of Lois or Eunice, we know a great deal about Timothy. You cannot help but wonder if his mother and grandmother ever imagined that, one day, Paul would place his ministerial mantle upon Timothy. That's the incredible impact inherent in a legacy of faith.

Years ago, when Jeannie and I were just engaged, I took her to visit my grandparents on my father's side of the family. My grandfather took her hand in his, held it to his lips and kissed it. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he said, "That's an old Elliff custom ... and I'm the old Elliff who started it!" But that's not all he and my grandmother "started."

My grandfather was a preacher who in his early days was a hard-hitting, Bible-thumping, barn-storming, brush arbor, exhorter of the brethren. Preaching up and down the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma, he often stirred such controversy that posses would be called out to protect him. On one occasion, in fact, the music for a revival was provided through instruments belonging to the "Anti-Horse Thief Band." My grandmother, on the other hand, while a quiet and gracious lady, was the greatest soul-winner I ever knew, leading dozens to the Lord even in the year of her death.

When they were in their 80s, I began pastoring a small country church in a town near where they lived. Generally, as I made my way back to college on Sunday evenings, I would stop by their home with a carload of friends. There my grandparents would fix a late-night breakfast and talk about the Lord. It is impossible to relate just how formative those discussions were for my friends and me. We always left with prayer, encouragement ... and full stomachs. My grandparents were determined that their latest days would be their greatest days ... and they were!

The BOTTOM LINE is this: Whatever you do, leave a legacy of faith and faithfulness.

*

The Legacies of Two Men

Proverbs 10:7

[Several versions are presented which differ mostly in the statistics. I suspect the research exhibits a fair amount of "selection bias" - Holwick]

Max Jukes [should be "Juke"] lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants -- 300 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years each; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They have made no contribution to society that is of any notable benefit.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes.

He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants --of these, 430 were ministers [seems high: see below]; 86 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; five were elected to the United States Congress and two to the Senate. One was Vice-President of this nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

How is your influence and what legacy will you leave with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren?

============================

Max Jukes had offspring that were known for their bad characters whose children plagued New York prisons. Max Juke's two sons fathered five generations who produced 709 descendants and 1.3 billion dollars of expense of crime dealings. An investigator named R. L. Dugdale found that: 1/5 were criminals, approx. 1/4 were paupers supported at government expense, 1/4 were born illegitimate, 1/6 of the women were prostitutes.

Jonathan Edwards was a minister and a strict moral leader. His tree produced “twelve college presidents, two-hundred sixty-five college graduates, sixty-five college professors, sixty physicians, one hundred ministers, seventy-five army officers, sixty prominent authors, one hundred lawyers, thirty judges, eighty public officers such as governors, mayors, and state officials, three congressman, two U.S. senators, and one vice-president of the United States.”

(adapted from G. M. Webb, Training Up A Child (Old Landmarks: Denver, 1977), 209).

============================

Many years ago a study was made on two families that lived about the same time. Jonathan Edwards was a well-known preacher in the early American Colonies. Out of 729 of his descendants, 300 were preachers, 65 were college professors, 13 were university presidents, 16 were authors, 3 were U.S. congressmen, and one was a Vice-President of the United States. None of Jonathan Edwards' family ever received any money from state institutions for the needy. Max Jukes lived at about the same time as Edwards. Max Jukes never cared about God, never believed in God, and never shared God with his family. Out of 1,020 descendants, 300 died prematurely, 100 entered penitentiaries for an average sentence of 13 years each, 190 were prostitutes, and 100 were drunkards. They cost the state an estimated $1,200,000, at a time when the dollar was worth far more than it is now.

============================

I quote from Al Sanders in "Crisis in Morality!" --

“Max Jukes, the atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl, and from the union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one-and-a-quarter million dollars.

“But, praise the Lord, it works both ways! There is a record of a great American man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly girl. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. His descendants did not cost the state a single penny. 'The memory of the just is blessed' (Prov. 10:7).

============================

In the year 1720 two young men began their careers in New York City. One of them, a 17-year-old Yale graduate named Jonathan Edwards, became the youngest Presbyterian minister in the history of the city. Over the course of his fifty-five years on this earth he developed into the finest theologian this continent has ever produced; he was a missionary to the first nations of Massachusetts; a preacher who inspired both an awe and dread which was instrumental in the great awakening of evangelical piety in America; and, last but not least, was the first president of Princeton University. Edwards was also a devoted family man, who cherished his wife and doted on his children. He taught them to pray and to regard their lives as a gift of God. The other man whose career began that same year was a publican named Max Jukes who didn't think much of Jonathan Edwards and even less of the God he served. In fact, he refused to let his children attend the church in which Edwards preached, even though they begged him to go. Their only fleeting connection to each other in New York was the mutual disapproval of their respective lifestyles.

These two men, Edwards and Jukes, became posthumously connected through research into the subsequent history of their families. The result of the research was surprising for the persistent genealogist. Jukes has had 1,026 descendants: 300 of whom were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 declared bankruptcy due to alcoholism. As wards of the state, they have cost the Empire State several small fortunes. Edwards, on the other hand, has had 929 descendants: 430 became ministers; 86 were university professors, 5 served in congress and 2 became senators, one was a vice president. The Edwards' legacy has been a profound contribution to the spiritual and intellectual life, not only of the state, but of that nation.

(Sermon preached by Timothy Cooke on May 13, 2001)

============================

submitted by Gordon James

on Proclaim

He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average term of thirteen years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. family, thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to society.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants, and of these 430 were ministers; 86 became university professors; 13 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; 7 were elected to the United States Congress. One was vice president of his nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

________

James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 195. From Family Happiness is Homemade, Sep, 1986, Vol. 10, No. 9., bulletin insert published by Family Concern, J. Allan Petersen, Editor.

============================

The original study of the Juke family was done by Richard L. Dugdale in 1875 and expanded and published by Arthur Eastabrook in 1915. See http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/lib/docs/759.htm for the complete document. A relevant section:

Dugdale studied 709 persons, 540 being of Juke blood and 169 of "X" blood who had married into the Juke family. He estimated that the Juke family would consist of 1,200 persons were it possible to have traced all the lines of descent from the original 6 sisters. Of the 709 whom he studied, 180 had either been in the poorhouse or received outdoor relief to the extent of 800 years. There had been 140 criminals and offenders, 60 habitual thieves, 7 lives sacrificed by murder, 50 common prostitutes, 40 women venereally diseased contaminating 440 persons, and 30 prosecutions in bastardy. The total cost to the State of New York of this one group of mental and social degenerates was estimated, for a period of 75 years beginning in 1800, at $1,308,000.

I believe this is the origin of the Jukes-Edwards comparison:

Winship, Albert E. (1900) Heredity: A history of Jukes-Edwards families. Boston: Journal of Education. (This comparison was much trumpeted by proponents of eugenics)

============================

Comment by Forrest L. Bivens in “Practical Insights into the Minister’s Spiritual Growth,” by Forrest L. Bivens, Jan. 21, 2002. http://www.wls.wels.net/library/Essays/Authors/b/BivensGrowth/BivensGrowth.pdf

As I understand it, the study began when the New York Prison Commission employed a Mr. Richard Dugdale in 1874 to visit state prisons. Dugdale was surprised to find criminals in several prisons who were not only related to other prisoners, but (as shown by further investigation) were all descended from the same family unit, that of “Max Jukes” [not his real name], born about 1720. The study was subsequently expanded (at Yale and Princeton) to include about 1,200 of Jukes' descendents, as well as the sharply contrasting family of Jonathan Edwards, who was born in 1703. Nearly 1,400 descendents of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards were charted. The findings confirm what sociologists have called the “five-generation rule”: how parents raise their child influences not only the child but the four generations that follow. (In short, the Jukes family purportedly revealed 300 convicts, 27 murderers, 190 prostitutes, 509 alcoholics and drug addicts, etc., while the Edwards progeny had 430 ministers, 130 lawyers and judges, 99 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 physicians, 11 congressmen and governors, etc.)

A Father's Legacy

Joshua 1

Frankly, most of us didn't know much about the space shuttle Columbia's amazing crew until the ship and the crew were lost in that awful re-entry tragedy. But then we began to learn what truly outstanding men and women these people were. Starting with their commander, Rick Husband. Hearing from his family and friends, it quickly became clear that he was a magnetic follower of Jesus Christ. He quoted from memory verses from Joshua 1 to prepare his crew the night before the launch. He prayed with his crew just before they met the press and boarded the shuttle. He molded his diverse crew into a bonded team. What touched me most was what Rick Husband did for his kids before he left. He made 17 videos for his daughter and 17 videos for his young son, each one a “devotional with Daddy” for each day he was scheduled to be gone - it was Daddy with the Word of God and Daddy praying with them. Can you imagine what a treasure that will be to them?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Father's Legacy.”

The kind of gift a space shuttle commander left for his children is the kind of legacy God intends for every father to leave - a contagious love for Jesus, the teaching of God's words and God's ways, and a consistent life of Christ-like love and purity.

And just in case someone asks, “How do you know that's what a father's supposed to be doing?” we can just look at Ephesians 6:4, our word for today from the Word of God. It says, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” There are some men who might say, “That's women's work.” A lot of men try to delegate to their wife the spiritual leadership for which God holds them accountable. Throughout the Bible - beginning with Adam - God makes it clear where the buck stops when it comes to spiritual leadership in a family. It stops with the man.

But that's not supposed to be a bad thing. It means that a man can leave a legacy for his children that can literally change their lives and last forever. And that's an exciting prospect! Rick Husband modeled this God-given assignment of being your children's spiritual coach when he left God's Word for his children along with hearing him talk with God on their behalf.

Some of us haven't really stepped up to building this spiritual legacy as we should. One reason might be fear of failure. You know, we men tend to only do things where we're pretty sure we won't look stupid. We ask out a girl only when we're pretty sure she won't shoot us down. We show up for a sport where we can look reasonably coordinated. We avoid sports we're not very good at. And because trying to lead our family in praying and exploring God's Word is unsure ground, we tend to shy away from it. Or we hide behind the fact that we think our wife is better at it. But God doesn't buy any of that. There's only one way you can be a failure in being a spiritual leader for your family - and that's by not stepping up! Just do it - however clumsy and unsure you may be at first.

When your children remember you, will they remember a praying man? Will they remember a Godly man? A man who loved and lived by the words of God? It's the greatest legacy you can give them. In the words of the psalmist, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,” and will follow God's mandate that men should “teach their children, so the next generation would know ... even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God...” (Psalm 78:4, 6-7)

We never know when our own mission on earth will end. Which means we can't waste another day in working on our spiritual legacy. The greatest gifts you will leave your children will not be in your will - they will be in your life. As you pass onto them your living faith in your living God!

________________

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1753]

The Legacies of Two Men

Proverbs 10:7

[Several versions are presented which differ mostly in the statistics. I suspect the research exhibits a fair amount of "selection bias" - Holwick]

Max Jukes [should be "Juke"] lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants -- 300 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years each; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They have made no contribution to society that is of any notable benefit.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes.

He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants --of these, 430 were ministers [seems high: see below]; 86 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; five were elected to the United States Congress and two to the Senate. One was Vice-President of this nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

How is your influence and what legacy will you leave with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren?

============================

Max Jukes had offspring that were known for their bad characters whose children plagued New York prisons. Max Juke's two sons fathered five generations who produced 709 descendants and 1.3 billion dollars of expense of crime dealings. An investigator named R. L. Dugdale found that: 1/5 were criminals, approx. 1/4 were paupers supported at government expense, 1/4 were born illegitimate, 1/6 of the women were prostitutes.

Jonathan Edwards was a minister and a strict moral leader. His tree produced “twelve college presidents, two-hundred sixty-five college graduates, sixty-five college professors, sixty physicians, one hundred ministers, seventy-five army officers, sixty prominent authors, one hundred lawyers, thirty judges, eighty public officers such as governors, mayors, and state officials, three congressman, two U.S. senators, and one vice-president of the United States.”

(adapted from G. M. Webb, Training Up A Child (Old Landmarks: Denver, 1977), 209).

============================

Many years ago a study was made on two families that lived about the same time. Jonathan Edwards was a well-known preacher in the early American Colonies. Out of 729 of his descendants, 300 were preachers, 65 were college professors, 13 were university presidents, 16 were authors, 3 were U.S. congressmen, and one was a Vice-President of the United States. None of Jonathan Edwards' family ever received any money from state institutions for the needy. Max Jukes lived at about the same time as Edwards. Max Jukes never cared about God, never believed in God, and never shared God with his family. Out of 1,020 descendants, 300 died prematurely, 100 entered penitentiaries for an average sentence of 13 years each, 190 were prostitutes, and 100 were drunkards. They cost the state an estimated $1,200,000, at a time when the dollar was worth far more than it is now.

============================

I quote from Al Sanders in "Crisis in Morality!" --

“Max Jukes, the atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly girl, and from the union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one-and-a-quarter million dollars.

“But, praise the Lord, it works both ways! There is a record of a great American man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly girl. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. His descendants did not cost the state a single penny. 'The memory of the just is blessed' (Prov. 10:7).

============================

In the year 1720 two young men began their careers in New York City. One of them, a 17-year-old Yale graduate named Jonathan Edwards, became the youngest Presbyterian minister in the history of the city. Over the course of his fifty-five years on this earth he developed into the finest theologian this continent has ever produced; he was a missionary to the first nations of Massachusetts; a preacher who inspired both an awe and dread which was instrumental in the great awakening of evangelical piety in America; and, last but not least, was the first president of Princeton University. Edwards was also a devoted family man, who cherished his wife and doted on his children. He taught them to pray and to regard their lives as a gift of God. The other man whose career began that same year was a publican named Max Jukes who didn't think much of Jonathan Edwards and even less of the God he served. In fact, he refused to let his children attend the church in which Edwards preached, even though they begged him to go. Their only fleeting connection to each other in New York was the mutual disapproval of their respective lifestyles.

These two men, Edwards and Jukes, became posthumously connected through research into the subsequent history of their families. The result of the research was surprising for the persistent genealogist. Jukes has had 1,026 descendants: 300 of whom were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 declared bankruptcy due to alcoholism. As wards of the state, they have cost the Empire State several small fortunes. Edwards, on the other hand, has had 929 descendants: 430 became ministers; 86 were university professors, 5 served in congress and 2 became senators, one was a vice president. The Edwards' legacy has been a profound contribution to the spiritual and intellectual life, not only of the state, but of that nation.

(Sermon preached by Timothy Cooke on May 13, 2001)

============================

submitted by Gordon James

on Proclaim

He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average term of thirteen years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. family, thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to society.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants, and of these 430 were ministers; 86 became university professors; 13 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; 7 were elected to the United States Congress. One was vice president of his nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

________

James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 195. From Family Happiness is Homemade, Sep, 1986, Vol. 10, No. 9., bulletin insert published by Family Concern, J. Allan Petersen, Editor.

============================

The original study of the Juke family was done by Richard L. Dugdale in 1875 and expanded and published by Arthur Eastabrook in 1915. See http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/lib/docs/759.htm for the complete document. A relevant section:

Dugdale studied 709 persons, 540 being of Juke blood and 169 of "X" blood who had married into the Juke family. He estimated that the Juke family would consist of 1,200 persons were it possible to have traced all the lines of descent from the original 6 sisters. Of the 709 whom he studied, 180 had either been in the poorhouse or received outdoor relief to the extent of 800 years. There had been 140 criminals and offenders, 60 habitual thieves, 7 lives sacrificed by murder, 50 common prostitutes, 40 women venereally diseased contaminating 440 persons, and 30 prosecutions in bastardy. The total cost to the State of New York of this one group of mental and social degenerates was estimated, for a period of 75 years beginning in 1800, at $1,308,000.

I believe this is the origin of the Jukes-Edwards comparison:

Winship, Albert E. (1900) Heredity: A history of Jukes-Edwards families. Boston: Journal of Education. (This comparison was much trumpeted by proponents of eugenics)

============================

Comment by Forrest L. Bivens in “Practical Insights into the Minister’s Spiritual Growth,” by Forrest L. Bivens, Jan. 21, 2002. http://www.wls.wels.net/library/Essays/Authors/b/BivensGrowth/BivensGrowth.pdf

As I understand it, the study began when the New York Prison Commission employed a Mr. Richard Dugdale in 1874 to visit state prisons. Dugdale was surprised to find criminals in several prisons who were not only related to other prisoners, but (as shown by further investigation) were all descended from the same family unit, that of “Max Jukes” [not his real name], born about 1720. The study was subsequently expanded (at Yale and Princeton) to include about 1,200 of Jukes' descendents, as well as the sharply contrasting family of Jonathan Edwards, who was born in 1703. Nearly 1,400 descendents of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards were charted. The findings confirm what sociologists have called the “five-generation rule”: how parents raise their child influences not only the child but the four generations that follow. (In short, the Jukes family purportedly revealed 300 convicts, 27 murderers, 190 prostitutes, 509 alcoholics and drug addicts, etc., while the Edwards progeny had 430 ministers, 130 lawyers and judges, 99 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 physicians, 11 congressmen and governors, etc.)

Place These Ashes On Your Heart

Acts 9:27

In 1580, a Dutch Protestant leader named Klaes was arrested and condemned as a heretic. Eventually he was burned at the stake. When the tragedy was over, his dear wife took their small son by the hand and walked thorugh the back streets of town to the hill where their loved one had perished as a Christian martyr. At the place of execution, the bereaved widow gathered up a few of the ashes, placed them in her satchel, and hung it around her boy's neck, saying,

"Son, I place these ashes on your heart, and on the heart of every

son of these Netherlands in all eternity. Whenever and wherever

in this world there is an injustice or wrong committed, these ashes

will beat on your heart and you will speak out without fear, even

at the fear of death."

________

G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Broadman, 1986, p. 89

NORTH MARSHALL MESSENGER

Volume 421, March 21, 1999

Grieving Pastor Soothed By Notes Ancestor Wrote In 1940s Christmas Bible

Mark 5:22

Years after Ruby died at age 26 of scarlet fever, her mother Rebecca journaled grief and hope on blank pages of her Bible, a Christmas gift received in 1946.

“Dear children, when you read this and I am gone,” Rebecca wrote, “I want you to keep close to Jesus too. He is our only pure joy. It pays to serve Him. For like Ruby, this day is coming to all, and we all want to meet in heaven.”

Three-quarters of a century later, the Bible, now weathered and fragile, is in the hands of Rebecca’s great-grandson Erik Reed, a Tennessee pastor who Dec. 1, 2022, marked the third anniversary of the loss of his son Kaleb, who died at age 15 after lifelong health struggles.

“When we started reading some of these notes, it struck our hearts because we’d lost a child,” Erik, lead pastor of The Journey Church in Lebanon, said of himself and his wife Katrina. “So many of the things that she’s saying just resonated with us. As I read it to my wife out loud, we were both just in tears.”

Rebecca apparently found her daughter ill in bed one morning.

“She was still alive,” Erik said of his great-aunt, “but she was obviously having issues. And she ended up passing away.”

Rebecca journaled her feelings in poetry and prose at least a decade after Ruby’s death on June 11, 1937.

“She just talked about how much she missed her and how difficult it’s been without her,” Erik said. “She even writes about recounting the morning, but then she’ll immediately talk about someday all the tears will be gone.

“She says, ‘Sometimes I’m just so happy, but I can’t always stay happy. Lonely days come.’ So she’s just pouring her heart out. But you see a mixture of sorrow and faith through all of it.”

The Bible passed from the hands of Rebecca’s youngest daughter Dorothy to her son Sam, who loaned it to Erik.

“It really is just incredible,” Erik said.

Erik describes the Bible as a King James Version that was given to Rebecca as a Christmas gift by another of her daughters, Lorine, who was close to Ruby in age and spirit.

“The two sisters were super close,” Erik said. “They were strong believers. But the stories I’ve heard about my great-grandmother were about how strong her faith was.”

Rebecca attended Barton’s Creek Baptist Church, founded in 1849 in Lebanon and still active today.

“It’s not a charismatic church by any means, but she was known for shouting ‘amen’ and being just very vibrant in her faith,” Erik said. “I’d always heard those stories and of course, I knew she’d lost a child, but I’d never seen any firsthand things from her own heart and her own feelings.”

Erik is considering transcribing Rebecca’s notes to preserve them before returning the Bible to his cousin.

“It’s really meaningful to have a piece of history from my own family,” Erik said. “It’s just encouraging for me as someone who’s buried a son and lost a child. There’s not a whole lot of people who share that experience of a relative, of a great-grandmother. There’s a part of me that resonates with her life.

“I feel more than a blood connection to her. I feel a kinship in that we’ve both suffered a sorrow that many people never do and never want for sure.”

Erik’s son Kaleb battled lifelong health issues that began when doctors accidentally took his good kidney along with a kidney covered in cysts when he was two months old. Kaleb attended school, played and enjoyed games as kids do, but also endured several hospitalizations a year, crippling complications from fungal meningitis and a stroke before succumbing on Dec. 1, 2019.

Erik’s family, including daughters Kaleigh Grace and Kyra Piper, still deals with the loss, which he mentioned in a Nov. 22 Facebook post.

“It’s that time of the year for my family, where the shadow creeps in and the lingering presence of Kaleb’s death weighs heaviest,” Erik wrote. “The cold weather almost triggers the emotions. It’s wild how things imprint on our souls when we experience loss.”

Keeping a record of one’s faith can be an important legacy, Erik said, and we never know who will see such writings.

“I’m reading the words of a mother who is grieving, but I’m reading them now, and she’s not grieving any longer. She’s with the Lord, and she’s with her daughter, and the hope that we have in Christ, the promises we have in God’s Word, she has seen the fulfillment of those promises,” he said. “So now I can read them and remember the same. These sorrows will pass.

“There will come a day where to live is Christ, but to die is gain.”

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