My dear friends These days I received a heart-warming message from a dear senior
couple in the Free State province. For years now, these friends have taken it upon
themselves to keep encouraging me in my struggle against Motor Neuron Disease. I just love
it when they give me updates on their farming activities.
In the last years Oom has been deliberately retreating into the background and gently
pushing his son to take over the leading role on the farm. The two enjoy a harmonious
relationship that many fathers and sons can only dream of.
The one project that Oom is spearheading is the installation of an irrigation scheme
for the farm. I do not intend to exaggerate if I say that in those parts of the world that
are prone to drought water is worth its weight in gold. Ask the Israelis; they will tell
you all about it.
The part of Oom and Tannie's message that struck a special chord with me was where they
referred to the irrigation scheme as a "legacy for our son." Knowing their love
for the Lord and His work I am well aware that they have invested in their son spiritually
too, but the picture of a veteran farmer selflessly striving to leave his son a farm under
irrigation was just too beautiful for me.
My thoughts turned to the legacy that the Lord left for His disciples. Who am I, a mere
mortal, to grasp fully God's profound mysteries? Three points stood out for me.
Think of the peace that the Lord left with His disciples; the peace which the world
could not and still cannot give. Terrible turbulences and storms awaited them but nothing
in this world could sink the Lord's peace within them.
As promised to His disciples before His ascension to heaven, the Lord sent down His
Holy Spirit to take over from where He left off, to comfort, convict, instruct, guide and
empower them. The kingdom within them turned the world upside down.
It occurred to me that perhaps the legacy that the Lord left with His disciples is best
summed up in the following verse:
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were
unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had
been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13)
The life that flowed from the disciples left enemies and critics with no option but to
acknowledge that these men had been with Jesus.
I believe that the result of the disciples being with Jesus was not a superficial
rub-off effect, but that these men had been deeply immersed into the personality of our
Lord and Saviour.
What a legacy!
Have a blessed week.
Pressing on!
In His love
Fano Sibisi
