Legacy - Robert Vickrey

for what you're about to hear, I blame Tim Lewis. Because yesterday he did this fantastic job about memorials and how we have to remember them. And he does all these wonderful ones and he missed my favorite one. The one that's on the EA Levitt School of Business, door right there, well it's not on the door, it's just right beside the door. But it's about Elijah Levitt and how he, how he was so instrumental in getting your college. We opened in 1956 and how he died at the age of 103 years old. The exact same year I graduated from high school. So to me that was a cool story. And yesterday in chapel I remember thinking not only about the memorials and the reasons for those memorials, but I started thinking, I was like wow, what an amazing legacy of people are here at York University. And Tim's been here for 22 years and he knows every single story, he knows all this stuff. And most of you in the audience out here have been here at York longer than I have. 'Cause I've only been here since August. So that's what I was thinking and then after that thought I had this morbid thought come across my mind. I was like is a legacy something that people plan from the beginning or is a legacy something that they try to achieve as they get towards the end of their life. And I began thinking about that and about their legacy. And then I started thinking about what my legacy if any would be. And my immediate gut level reaction was that we don't really think about our personal legacies until we start realizing that we're not gonna live forever. Which led me to subconsciously worry about the legacy I leave. And so what might happen if I waited too long to define my own legacy? Defining a legacy is a lot like success. I mean, how do you even know when you've succeeded? I mean, when have you made it? I mean, what is the point in working so hard every day towards this utopian life if we don't even get to enjoy it? How do you clearly visualize your final destination? How do you become successful? How do you adapt? How do you change along the way? So this isn't gonna be all that deep or all that philosophical. I'm just gonna ask you three questions about the mark you hope to make on this world. In essence, what do you want your legacy to be? And the first question I want you to just think about is what do I wanna spend my life doing? Actually, that's a hard question to answer honestly to yourself because, you know, what you really wanna do doesn't hinge around money or your abilities or your obligations. And I'll admit it, I didn't understand it as a young adult either. All of these things are just results that flow from your purpose in life. Like most of the people, I tried to limit my thinking to the confines of the different job titles I've had or even the skill sets I possessed. I didn't realize that there was a purpose to be spiritual, a purpose to be a Christian. And that whenever I was really aligned with God's will for my life, well, I enjoyed what I was doing so much that I didn't even realize how fast time was passing by. You know, for me, I used to think that presenting at academic conferences, presenting research papers was my passion. And I traveled around the globe, around the United States, different places. And I realized the reason eventually was not that I love presenting at the conferences. It's because of the people I met at those conferences and the stories that I came back with and the stories that I've shared the most, the stories that I have treasured the most, the stories that come to mind first have all centered around Christians I have met in those places. So I guess the answer for me would be that I want to be around interesting Christians who bring me joy. Like this preacher in Enish, Ireland, who responded to an email from me just asking, hey, do you think it would be possible that I could go to church on Sunday while the rest of my colleagues are going through the ruins of Claire Castle? He'd never met me. He had no idea who I was. He drove to the next town, overpick me up at the bus stop, took me to this little country church where the church was literally a shed in the backyard of someone's thing. And I loved it. I enjoyed it so very much. But it didn't get interesting. He was a missionary to Kazakhstan, one of the former Russian republics. He invited me to his house to eat lunch. His wife's Kazakh. She doesn't speak English. He didn't speak Kazakh. I don't speak Kazakh. The only language they had in their home was Russian. And so I got to have lunch where I didn't understand two thirds of what was being said or going on, but I had the time of my life. It was an amazing time, an amazing story, amazing people. Another story that comes to mind for me is the time I was in Montreal, Canada. And they do church services there at the Montreal Church Christ a little bit different. One week is in English, one week is in French. They split back and forth. And just my luck, I was there on the day they were doing French. I don't speak French. I mean, I can read it a little just 'cause I speak Spanish, but you know, no. And so they were really technologically advanced. They had the thing where you could live into this little earbud and they'd have someone translate for you. Except the woman who did the translation to English from French, she was sick that weekend. So the only thing that I could do was there was this beautiful Venezuelan lady who was like, I can translate it to Spanish, if that'll help. I was like, well, a whole lot better than listening to French. And so I got to spend that entire time. And she took the time out to translate, to interpret that for me. And it was wonderful, it was amazing. And I loved it. Because a Christian went out of her way to make sure that I understood what was happening, even though I didn't understand the language being spoken around. I've got tons of other stories from other places in the world, but not enough time to tell them all. Heart-breaking stories about a young woman in Panama who had never heard the story of Jesus ever in her life. She's like, I really don't even know what you're talking about. Stories about a kind, sweethearted man up in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. That's where I work before here. That's why you think I'm from Arkansas, but I'm not, you know. But he would bring us eggs. Every single time I'd go to preach it, he'd bring eggs, give us two or three dozen eggs every time. Every place I've gone to church, I've found my people and found the goodness of God. And what I've learned is, and I hope that you have the chance to experience, is that the Christian life is not a life of isolation and loneliness. God is so good that He's giving me friends and family everywhere I go in this world that doesn't matter what city town or metropolis you're in. You'll understand this when you've discovered it for yourself. Once you do, you want to hold on to it. Second question I want you to ask when you think about your legacy is simply this. How can I use what I do to serve the world? Again, without thinking about how good you might be at it or what you might earn from it, how can you serve others with the passion in your life? I mean, God is good all the time, but the world without God, most of the time, is mean, cruel and harsh. People who claim to be followers of Christ need to help others. And we can even do more than that. Christians should serve and help not only people, but good causes and useful organizations that can have an impact. And we need to get creative. Help means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. You can be the person who listens to others. You can be the person who is a good shoulder to cry on. You can be the person who steps in to deescalate the dangerous situation. You can be the person who models a Christian life and how a Christian reacts in the hard times. You know, I'm not the first one to say this, and I'm not the only one to say it either. But what this hurting world needs right now is more spiritual first responders who are willing to take their talents and run headfirst into this broken world. God is so good that He has given amazing talents and amazing attitudes to people to allow them to help others in ways that really change their lives. My third and final question to help you think about your legacy is really relevant to what I teach here in York business. In almost every class at some point in time during the semester, we have to talk about money and motivation. How do you want to be compensated for your service? You know, this is the fun part where your imagination can run wild about what your legacy will be after all you've done. No one has to put in 20, 30, 40, 50 years of a legacy of work, grinding it out to have a legacy. Should've done this on my iPad, just wipe up. No, what do you have to do? You need to serve people. You need to have a sincere passion and make sure that your service has a lasting positive impact on their lives. I mean, if you think carefully about the reasons why people do what they do, most of the time it's not about money, although it can be a great motivator for some of you. Compensation in the form of gratitude for helping someone during a hard time or praise for being a great business leader in your organization is much more satisfying. Your expectations in life for compensation will change as you change. 80% of college students change their majors at least once. And the average number of majors in your time here is gonna be three, according to the research from the University of Tulsa. As you grow in your spiritual journey, you will come to realize that God's plans for you will pay a bigger role in your life and in your compensation than you could ever imagine. As it says in Proverbs 1921, many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is Lord's purpose that prevails. You know, when I graduated from high school, I never thought that I would be a professor of business in a Christian university. Back then, all I just wanted to do was write computer programs 24 hours a day and have someone's light food under my door occasionally whenever I forgot to eat. And I thought being rich was only financial compensation. You know what, these three questions are a framework for defining your legacy in life and your spiritual journey. And I hope that a little self-reflection will inspire you to make changes in your life that will may help you progress to having a legacy. You know, what we don't know is how your legacy will be written from now. The how won't be clear until your journey's started. Once you know where you're going, you'll see that you'll get there a lot faster by surrounding yourself with the right people. I'll leave you with one final thought about creating a lasting legacy. Doesn't come from the Bible, comes from a philosopher, a Greek philosopher called Pericles. He just said, what you leave behind is not what's engraved in stone monuments, book what is woven into the lives of others. I hope that your lasting legacy and mine will be that we helped weave the goodness of God into the lives of the people around us every single day.