As I sit here in India contemplating what God has done over the last decades, I am mindful and thankful for those who went before me. In my case, there are many who come rapidly to mind. But, three of them have special meaning. One, my father, Truman Smith. Two, my mother-in-law, Nancy Parkinson. And third, a special friend, Al Telford.

What was it about the legacy of Truman, Nancy and Al?

1. It was the things we saw in them! Their lives were not perfect, but they did live different than the world around them, and even different than other Christian people around them. I am not saying that they were anything different than what we see in Scripture. But, that we could indeed see more of Biblical living in them.

Note that I do not say Christian living for that can be easily misinterpreted to mean "church living." I mean Biblical because they had a growing reflection of what we actually read in the Bible.

2. It was the length of years we saw these things in them! The journey that they were on spanned across much of their adult lives. One could see the constant progression of what they were personally learning from daily time in Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

3. It was the explanations they gave! When one had opportunity to dialogue, and occassionally press them for "reasons," invariably it came back to their walk with God. There were "old" things learned in the past, but there were new things as well.

4. It was the intensity with which they held their convictions! In my youth we might have said that they were "old," out of the "times," too conservative. But, now, looking back, I can see that it was not personal "feelings" that were driving them, but Biblical learning set in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.

5. It was the habits they developed! I had many opportunities to observe them in the private side of their lives. And, often saw the spiritual practices upon which they built their learning. They were really quite simple:
-solitude
-listening to/in Scripture
-relationship to God
There was nothing special. They simply built a lifelong process of doing the important things, as the first order of life!

6. It was their extraordinariness
through the ordinary of their lives! So many people "worship" highly visible people, Christian and non-Christian. To them we ascribe great influence, at least in minds. But, the older I get, the more I am convinced that the power of the Gospel is what it produces in ordinary people living ordinary lives.

The Old Testament is replete with examples of monuments that God's people built to remind them of something special God taught them or did for them in a particular place. With a completed Bible we of this generation are less in need of these monuments. This does not necessarily mean that we have no need. But, what could be New Testament similarities to the Old Testament? I think that they would not be places but people.

This seems to me to be exactly what the writer of Hebrews is saying in the 11th chapter and first part of the 12th. These people were evidences, monuments, that remind us of what faith looks like in all of it's personalized and incarnated forms. Moreover, as he says in the first part of chapter 12, these witnesses point to the ultimate focus, Jesus What do we learn from them, and more specifically from these three, Al, Truman and Nancy?

1. The roots of life are developed in the disciplines of the private:
-solitude
-listening to/in Scripture
-relationship to God

Christlikeness can be grown in no other way. Anything, even Christian things, that get in the way or attempt to replace this, must be rejected.

2. One has to be in relationship to others to significantly impact the way they think and live. I have observed in these three people that though they were open to just about everyone, they were most committed to a relative few. I have discovered that we are capable of only a relative few meaningful relationships. So, we must pick them wisely and invest significant time.

3. The longest lasting convictions or values are in significant antagonism to the norm around us. There is no other nice way to say it, when we come to Christ we are put into His kingdom. And, His kingdom is not like the one we live in now. So, the more we discover about and live His kingdom, the more we live in, but not of or like this one.

4. Life in it's ordinariness is the crucible for extraordinary disciple living. If every man, woman and child is to see and hear the Gospel, it will come through millions of ordinary people growing in the extraordinariness of the daily filling of the Holy Spirit living THROUGH them.

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