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And also, there was this business of boondocking. Jacob and Kate highly recommended it. A few months over the summer perhaps. It was time to try something new.
And there was always the simple business of living. Waking up every day and choosing gratitude. Finding new ways of making Helen smile. And hearing all of the things from his sons when they called.
Hey, Dad, they’d start with, and every time his heart squeezed with a little bit of awe.Hegot to be their dad. And they loved him.
He knew all too well things could have been so very different. But for the mercy and grace of God.
That was exactly the legacy he wanted his children to leave with. To carry forward. They would go into their lives and take with them the enduring grace of God that had been pressed into him. A grace that had reshaped him, changed the direction he’d been going.
A grace that would carry them on, even beyond the span of Kevin’s natural life.
He could not hope for a greater blessing than that.
“Boys, will you gather your families around one last time before you all head out?”
To a son, they nodded, then did exactly as asked. Within minutes the group was a large huddle. A beautiful testimony of love right there in the Murphy living room.
Kevin opened the Bible he’d taken up while the children had gathered and found Numbers 6. “These past weeks I’ve been reminded of the journey your mother and I have been on. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking back over my life and have been astonished time and again at the grace God has poured out on me. So before we go our separate ways, I want to send you out with a blessing.”
He looked down at the text. “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
He closed the book and looked at his sons, making eye contact with each. “I was handed a legacy of addiction and shame, but that is not the heritage I give to you. My children, live as people blessed by God, redeemed, and called to holy lives. Walk in the freedom of Christ, who has set you free. Love as Christ has loved the church. Lead your families as humble servants.
“And now, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, ‘to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory.’”
“Let your lives be worship, my family, as you go out from here in peace.”
And there was a corporateamen. Let it be so.
