Our Faith Footprints

Our Faith Footprints
A few days ago, a dear cousin (Royce Milton Beckett -- on my husband's dad's side of the family), graduated to heaven and, of course, thoughts go to the precious times we had with him, as well as the footprints he left behind for us to follow. He was a beautiful soul, but most impactful, was his faith that was lived out loud so audaciously. I loved his daughter, Tammy’s, remarks on her FB page as they knew his time of home going could be close. Her words reminded me of our words with my Sweetheart – our faith was so strong for a miracle any time, but we also wouldn’t hold him back from his eternal reward for anything, if that was God’s plan.

Tammy's words: “I'm never on FB anymore but needed to make sure everyone knew what was happening with everyone's favorite unconventional Pastor Royce Milton Beckett ;-) God can do anything and we are still asking for a miracle. If that's not God's plan, we are good with him moving onto the glorious reward of being with Jesus forever. Because of our hope in the Lord, it will only be a "See you soon, Dad"! He is quite a character and would have loved to ask you a million questions about who you are and, mostly, if you knew Jesus as your personal Savior. That was the most important question he always asked people after chatting with them. At times I would get aggravated with him about being too forward so quickly, and he would say “I may never meet them again, so I have to ask while I can.” He was having a really bad day on Mother's Day, and was so confused and disoriented, but in the middle of the delusions, he told me that Jesus was coming soon and we needed to share His love and message of salvation with everyone! So today in honor of my Daddy, would you please look up..... talk to Jesus about your life and His plan for you. Sing praises to our awesome God and lift your hands high in praise as he would if he could. Love you all. <3 Not long after that post, Royce graduated to heaven and I loved Tammy’s next FB post: “Many of you knew my Dad "up close" and personal :-) He never spoke to anyone at a normal distance. He was always close enough for you to smell his breath, LOL, and hopefully he had a mint in his mouth ;-) He was quite a character and if you knew him personally, I can promise he LOVED YOU DEARLY! He had a great capacity for genuinely loving EVERYONE. We, his family, learned early on that we had to share him with the world. We never felt unloved or neglected and knew that we were the next in line after God, BUT as he would say "I'm on a mission from God" (quote from the Blues Brothers Movie he watched MANY times, then shared with the whole family and a few other "Special People" assuring us he could mute all of the bad words and questionable things, oh my!).” I wrote a card to Elaine, his wife, and I spoke to her from my own experience -- of my own precious husband’s faith footprints and graduation to heaven. In my quiet space of thought and prayer, while I was thinking about our husbands’ faith footprints, I transitioned from those who have gone on before, to thinking about MY own faith footprints -- the imprints and effect that my time on this earth might have. Surely, we should be working as diligently to make our own faith footprints as large as we can, so we really do make a difference in as many lives as we possibly can, while we're still on this side of heaven. Every day we encounter people who need a living witness of faith. We may think "How can I make a footprint so large when I am just so ordinary?" But, God uses "ordinary" people to do extraordinary things. King David....was just a shepherd boy; Jesus....was a carpenter, His Mother, Mary, was just a peasant girl. You and I are on this earth, today, to leave behind faith footprints for others to follow. How will some people know unless we tell them. Romans 10:14 “But how can people call on Him if they have not believed in Him? How can they believe in Him if they have not heard His message? How can they hear if no one tells them the good news.” Royce was a bearer of good news and he left faith footrpints for others to follow. I'm determined to make mine the biggest footprints that I can! How about you?