I was reading this week about the lake of magma that is present under Yellowstone National Park. It seems that there is a super volcano below the surface of the earth. It has violently erupted at least twice in known history.
The bad news: it will erupt again, and when it does, it will drastically change the face of the earth. Our climate will change and many of the central and east coast states will be devastated. The good news: the odds are 1 in 700,000 that it will erupt this year. Scientists expect it to erupt sometime in the next 700,000 years. I am planning on retiring and dying by then.
By any measure, our lives on earth are not very long. We have many in our church living well into their 90s and some reach 100 years of life. But, by any measure, that is a short visit on planet earth. However, we have an opportunity to touch the future. How much joy would it give you to know that your life and legacy would go on hundreds of years after your death?
Next Monday night, the TLC Scholarship Committee is meeting to sort through dozens of scholarship applications. In 2015, the TLC Endowment will award $80,000 in scholarships – far more than any other charity or institution on South Whidbey Island.
Steve Schrecengost, the founder of our Endowment, is still touching the future 15 years after his death. Terry Otey has been dead for 2 years, and yet he is touching the future as a dozen young people will attend college next fall with the help of the scholarships that bear his name.
A woman named Ruby left her mark on the world and her family. This year, and every year going forward, a TLC student will receive a scholarship as Ruby touches the future. Nora Josephson has a separate bank account where she saved money for the TLC Endowment, and because of that, she continues to touch the future.
The TLC Endowment gives away nearly $100,000 a year to charities and scholarships. Blessed today, together we have the opportunity to touch the future!
You can remember the Endowment in your will, or better yet, you can know the joy of putting that money to work while you are still living. Imagine your joy as a charity receives a check from your gift, or when a young person walks across a stage holding a scholarship bearing your name. And those gifts, managed by our Endowment Committee, will continue every year until Jesus returns or until that volcano blows.
Blessed to be a Blessing!
