Paterno–It Is Easy To Tarnish a Legacy

The death of Joe Paterno should scare the living daylights out of any of us that are in leadership.  Here is a man that up until November would have gone out with a legacy that was substantial.  All it took was one mistake, one catastrophic mistake.  And in his case, it was looking the wrong way and not taking action.  To Paterno in the scheme of what he was doing and who he was, it might seem inconsequential.  In leadership, the trap is always getting too caught up in who you are and how big you’ve become.  It does not take much to bring down a leader.  It is very sad that Joe Paterno’s legacy will now be forever tarnished. 

As I reflected on this, I thought of the Kings of Judah.  There are eight kings that are mentioned as “good” in the Old Testament after the kingdom split.  Six of the eight made catastrophic mistakes that either cost them their lives or severely tarnished their legacy.

Asa – reliance on the king of Aram for deliverance (2nd Chron 16)
Jehoshaphat – forms an unholy alliance with the Kings of Israel (2nd Chron 18)
Joash – rebelled after the death of Jehoida and abandoned his faith (2nd Chron 24)
Amaziah – bowed down to the pagan kings (2nd Chron 25)
Uzziah – undone by pride and ended life as a leper (2nd Chron 26)
Josiah – made an ill-advised decision to enter into battle against Egype (2 Chron 35)

There are two kings that made mistakes but they appear to be inadvertent and did not severely cripple their legacy.  Jotham allowed the people to run unfettered and didn’t make all the necessary reforms (2 Chron 27).  Hezekiah who made the most reforms as king nevertheless showed the Babylonians all the kingdom treasury.  It is said of Hezekiah that the “Lord did this matter only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart”. 

It is almost impossible to lead an untarnished legacy.  It is far easier to fail than to succeed.  In 75% of the cases above, what started out as good clearly ended up bad.  Again, that should scare us.  I think it is a crucial prayer to God that I might be kept from a catastrophic mistake.  I am reminded of 1 Cor. 10:12-13 when Paul clearly says that an attitude of pride can lead to downfall, but an attitude of humility before God will save us.  God wants us to finish strong.

Passing the Torch

“And even when I am old and gray, oh God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to all who are to come." 
Psalm 71:18

This past week, our youngest daughter turned 20. Now Debbie and I no longer have kids as defined by teenage years. As I get older, the legacy that we leave is the most important thing. I am past the halfway point of my life which causes me to be retrospective. Our girls are well past the point where the influence that we can have upon them makes a big difference. They are their own persons, they live their own lives. Our prayer has been since they were little kids that they would grow up to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to seek a relationship with him. Our second prayer has been that they would marry godly men who would share the same relationship. We cannot change the past; hopefully by God's grace we did nothing to present a stumbling block to our children.

Now we're at a point where we can see how their lives turn out. It is really fun and the journey is just beginning. This past year we saw a daughter get married to a godly man thus fulfilling one of our prayers. We saw two of our daughters graduate and move on into their careers and livelihoods. I am not disappointed that none of them chose to follow their father into the business world. One is a cartoonist – how weird is that? I can't even draw a good stick figure. One aspires to serve others – what a blessing! One wants to teach math and is well beyond my ability to help with the homework.

The psalmist finds himself at the endpoint and strongly desires to see the fruits of his legacy. We all want to pass the torch to the next generation.  it is hard to admit I am old – seems like just yesterday I was their age.  But I am and can see that God has worked miracles in our children and has graciously used us in their lives.  My prayer is that I am able to see more and more how they turn out – kind of like a movie plot that is just evolving.  By the way, when do we get our grandchildren?