Hello and welcome to another episode of Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na.
Hi babe.
How's it going?
It's good.
How are you?
It's pretty good.
You've got a new setup going on.
I do have a new setup going on.
Yeah, it's kind of, we're upgrading.
We're doing new things.
I'll have to show some pictures on our social media.
Yes.
And show the new, the colorful setup that you've got going on for us.
I'm trying.
I like that my mug matches almost your microphone.
Almost.
It's red, but mine's kind of a pinky red.
Coral.
We like coral.
Coral is more of a nice neutral because you don't like pink.
You are not a pink guy.
That's okay.
Yeah.
That's all right.
What are we talking about today, babe?
Today, it's going to translate a little better when you see it written down.
Okay.
But it's leg-a-see-day.
Leg-a-see-day.
Yeah.
Dash-a-see-day.
Yes.
So tell me what leg-a-see-day is.
So it's like legacy.
Okay.
Because I know a lot of people, their goal, especially as parents and stuff like that,
you want to leave a legacy.
In a lot of areas of life, people want to leave a legacy.
They want to know that what they've done will pass on.
I know that it's hard work sometimes.
It is.
And not everybody, A, knows what hard work to put in, but B, some people just don't have
the motivation or drive to put in that hard work.
That's true.
And in my mind, with the title, and like I said, it's going to play out better when you
see it written down, but it's almost like leg-day.
Leg-day.
You know, because again, back to we love being in the gym.
We love hitting the weights.
Right.
And leg-day is one of those things that it's like, it's hard and not a lot of people want
to do it.
And we see the people that skip leg-day because they got really big upper bodies and then
they got little, tiny, thick legs.
It is not, it's not cute.
No.
It's not cute.
And what I'm doing right now, as you are talking, I am looking for something.
And I immediately thought of when you were talking about just leg-day, legacy, the things
that we leave behind.
One of the number one things that we talk about a lot is just you have to do it even
when you don't want to.
Yes.
You have to be disciplined in it.
Yeah.
And leaving that legacy behind when you're trying to pour into those kids.
I'm literally texting our daughter, right?
Okay.
So she just turned 18 for those of that do know for those that man.
Jesus.
Yes.
You know, like we missed this past week.
We weren't, you know, we weren't, we didn't do our podcast, but it's like we've been
so ramped up getting everything done for her and just, you know, focusing in on our family
this week and just focusing in just, you know, again, the school work lives, different things
of that nature, creating the legacy, being very intentional with our time, very intentional
with, you know, making sure that we're pouring in and we are getting ready for her friend
birthday party tomorrow.
We've been running around for the last several, several days of this week, trying to get all
of this stuff together.
We built her this really cute little, I want to say like, what is it like a Japanese table?
Yeah.
It's almost like a low, like almost like a platform, low platform table.
So they can do a picnic and things like that, which is going to be really sweet.
But it was one of those where she's college now, right?
So she's working on her stuff.
We knew that she had homework before she took off on her run around with all of her buddies.
That's right.
Guess what I've been doing the last two hours.
Hey babe, just making sure that you've got that done.
Hey babe, remember you've got this paper due to 11 59 tonight.
Oh yeah.
Hey babe.
Remember tomorrow you have your math quiz before you do your picnic.
Oh, that's important stuff.
Right.
And a lot of people would go, well, that's just being a parent.
Not necessarily.
Right.
Because because I'm doing, you know, the teaching right now with the kids I'm teaching.
And in one of my classes I said, listen, guys, I'm going to be sending out like emails to
your folks, just kind of giving them a heads up.
What's going on with you?
Blah, blah, blah.
And some of them said, I'm going to get whooped.
You know, I'm just, I'm going to get in so much trouble.
A couple of others, my parents don't care.
You know, and probably both are true, you know, to a point.
And there's that part of you that goes part of the legacy is even doing the hard things,
doing, you know, I'm like looking at our girl going, we're trying to instill in her some,
some practical, some things that will help her succeed.
Hey, speaking of all of a sudden I was like, I was supposed to get her like a planner today
while we were out and about, but you know, just learning certain things, us passing down
certain wisdom and it's like, well, that seems really silly and really shallow and really
whatever or what.
And it's like, no, it's, it's the everyday living that helps create that legacy.
I do certain things because I watched my grandmother do it or I do certain things because my mom
instilled some things inside of me.
But the thing that I've been looking for and I actually put it on her story.
I grabbed it from a friend of mine and she said to, uh, due to generational trauma, some
people don't have, uh, elders.
They have people in their family who have grown older, but not wiser.
Ooh, that hits.
That hits.
Yeah, it does.
And so when we are leaving a legacy, I mean, that could be the number one question that
you have for yourself.
Yeah.
What are you leaving behind?
Are you leaving wisdom?
Are you repeating generational things that has been played out in front of you?
Are you breaking generational curses?
Are you breaking habits?
Lifestyle that is detrimental that could cause you not to be an elder, not to be somebody
to look up to, but somebody that they just say, yeah, that's my older uncle.
Yep.
Yeah.
What's going on with him?
Well, you know, he's, he's my older uncle and that's about as far as it goes.
Or you become the person that they say, I don't want to live out that legacy.
Or you're the older family member that's always reliving youth.
It's one thing to cherish those memories.
It's one thing to, yeah, let's celebrate the victories.
Let's celebrate some of the fun times.
Let's laugh at the goofy times.
Let's laugh at how I used to jump off of buildings and almost break myself in half.
Let's laugh about that.
But the people that are stuck back there, I know there was a TV show when we were younger.
The dad on the show was always reliving his old high school football days.
Yes.
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yes.
And it's like, where does that get you?
And when you're talking about making better kids, it reminded me, I heard the quote once,
because when people talk about environmentalism, people always, let's leave a better planet
for our kids.
It's like, how about we leave better kids for the planet?
Ooh, babe.
Come on.
Absolutely.
Because it is.
We've talked about this before.
And it is.
Because with Gabri turning 18 now and going out into the world, yes, she's not living
out, she's not moving out or anything, but she's college.
She's exploring what it's like to be an adult.
The other day we had a conversation, what's it going to be like when we go voting, when
she goes voting?
It's like, whether she admits it or not, whether we realize it or not, she's watching us.
She's watching the other adults around us and around her that, how should I act?
How should I, as an adult, as a brand new adult, how should I act?
What are the things that are good?
What are the things that are bad?
What are the things that are going to get me in trouble?
What are the things that are going to hold me back?
What are the things that are going to propel me forward?
And it's all about that.
And again, it's this idea of legacy.
I know when the young adults used to live in our basement, we always said to them, whether
you know it or not, Gabriel is watching you.
So whether you want to or not, you are now an example.
As a parent, we are an example.
As a Christian, we are an example.
The world is watching.
Whether we want it or not, the world is watching because we are meant to be the ambassadors
of the kingdom on this planet.
And that's a heavy word in and of itself.
An ambassador.
You are carrying the weight and the authority and almost the kingship with you.
The reality of, because one of the prayers that we pray a lot as far as a family individually
is your kingdom come, your will be done.
And people cry out for that and they pray for that a lot, right?
But when you are a Christian, you are supposed to be bringing heaven to earth.
You are supposed to be walking out what it is to be a kingdom kid.
You're somebody that doesn't get frazzled and freaked out, excuse me, of everything
around you.
It's somebody that stands back with just a heavenly perspective.
I always hear people say, don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good.
Absolutely true.
The thing is, if we're walking in kingdom principles, the kingdom of God is at hand.
People are seeing Jesus with skin on.
Today we went to lunch, there's this young man.
We passed out in the parking lot.
Baby he couldn't have been, he's a teenager.
Lady's driving up, I go, babe, what's going on?
We pull into the parking lot, we're about to go eat.
I turn around and I look at you and I said, I'm going to go walk to this lady because
I, number one, I don't want her doing this by herself.
Not like I'm any big person, kind of tiny.
But the fact is that at that point it was like the Holy Spirit going, no, the kingdom
needs to come right now for this person, for this young man.
When we woke him up, he finally kind of woke up, whatever.
I looked at him and I first, what is your name?
Are you homeless?
What's going on with you?
He goes, I'm just laying here, I'm just trying to get some warmth, enjoy the day.
I work over here at the other restaurant across the parking lot and I said, buddy, okay, from
a mom's point of view, and I'm saying this to him, and I said, I don't know about her,
but I'm a mom.
If I saw my son laying in the middle of a parking lot, I would be freaking out right
now.
Buddy, you need to, we're making sure you're okay.
This lady's called, she called 911.
We hear the sirens coming and they're coming closer and she turns to him and says, that's
for you.
But it's one of those where it's like his eyes were beet red, but the moment that I
said my mama heart wanted to make sure that you were okay, it was like for the first time,
I don't know this young man, I don't know him from anybody, but you could see on his
face that somebody saw me, you guys cared enough to even just come.
Yeah, I mean, you could be random homeless person, but the fact is that you're a person.
Whether you're homeless, whether you have a home, it doesn't matter.
It's bringing the kingdom of God to earth right now in this moment, bringing the kingdom
of our son constantly.
He sees people, blessing on the corner constantly.
Can we help them?
How can we help them?
He's bringing the kingdom.
It's leaving the legacy.
It's reminding everybody, listen, we're here to take care of each other.
This is your God's creation.
You're someone that he strategically formed and made and you might just happen to maybe
go off on your own little thing there for a second, but our job as the people, as the
ambassadors of heaven are to remind people that they have a hope, that they have a purpose,
that what they have on this life, that they can have a legacy, that they can live a legacy,
that whatever it was that might've been passed down to them doesn't have to be their legacy.
It doesn't have to be the sentence that they have been formed to.
And us walking around, walking out these examples, being these people, walking in the character
of God, compassion, sympathetic, walking alongside people and just being life absolutely can
create a legacy.
Not just in our automatic, we're building it in our children, we're building in our
families, but people, like you said, are watching.
We always said to the young adult women, we'd say, listen, it's like if you peed upstream,
my kid's down below you and whatever you're peeing, whatever you're doing upstream is
coming down.
Now that sounds disgusting and that sounds really, well that seems really just harsh
and really, no, no, that's exactly what it is.
Exactly what it is.
Whatever it is that you are pouring out right now, you as an elder, you as an example, as
a role model, as whatever it is, somebody is watching you.
What are you doing upstream that's going to either produce life or death or create sickness
in this person's life?
That's true.
And I want to also say, I know we've talked a lot about family and stuff like that.
Yes, us walking as Christians, but family legacies and what do we leave to kids and
stuff and I want to also say that for the people that don't have kids, you can still
leave a legacy.
Oh, heck yeah.
For the people that are married or about to get married and they're not sure if they want
to have kids or they just don't have kids yet, you can still be that legacy.
You can still build that together or on your own or as a couple.
You can still build that legacy.
Coming to mind, I'm even remembering some years ago there was a group of friends at
our church that in a way they built a legacy just by being really good friends and they
would always bring joy and laughter and life everywhere they went because they would go
around as a little group of three or four ladies and that's what they would do.
They were building a legacy just through friendship.
I wanted to put that out there that legacy is not just family.
It's not just parents and kids and what are you passing to the next generation.
What are you leaving behind?
When you walk through, what does your footprint look like?
It's good.
In a way it's almost like the episode we had where it was like, what do you smell like
or what smell are you leaving?
It is.
What impression are you leaving on people?
When you leave a conversation or if you walk by somebody, even just walk by the hall, how
do they feel when you walk by?
You're like, hey, how's it going?
Do people want to say hi to you?
People would just be like, okay, I'll look the other way and I'll pretend I'm looking
at my phone so I don't have to say hi.
So it is.
It's for everybody.
It's for all of us.
Regardless of where we are in our lives, leaving a legacy, yes, it's hard.
Yes, it takes focus.
It takes work.
What in our lives that's worth it doesn't take work.
The only thing I can think of that doesn't take effort is loving Jesus.
Oh, I don't know.
Oh yeah.
I said it.
I said it and all of a sudden I'm like, oh, there's, oh, yeah.
I don't know, babe.
Yeah.
I mean, I was going to say sleeping.
Depends on the people.
Depends on the season.
You're right.
But I think anything worth doing is worth doing well.
It's true.
It's very true.
Anything worth having is worth building and being intentional about it.
I think if we, not just as Christians, I'm just going to keep just saying we as people,
we as people, if we just take the time to be more intentional, if you can, what is it
that you did that one time as far as change 1% of whatever was going on with you for a
positive and just be intentional about it, then what you're going to start seeing is
change.
You're going to start seeing growth.
You're going to start seeing stability.
You're going to start seeing clarity of mind.
You're going to start seeing just healthy.
You're going to start becoming more healthy in who you are, what's going on with you.
We seem to have a lot of sickness going on around our family in particular.
Again, another one of those things, one of the reasons why you guys didn't hear from
us last week.
We had a lot of family stuff going on.
It's like if you would just change one thing, just the one, and you and I trying to leave
that legacy or lead by example that thing that you stand back and you say, I'm going
to be the example that you need to see.
That's going to change.
I'm going to be, oh my gosh, you guys seem like you always seem clear of mind.
You always seem like you guys have it together and it's intentional, which is funny, but
it's true.
We laugh.
But it's a thing of intentional.
Again, back to that one friend of ours saying, you guys have this connection.
You just talk to each other and it's like it's taken time.
The one episode where we're even talking about communication and just trying to whatever
it is and it might be hard, be intentional.
Break the silence.
Break that really horrible system of whatever it is that you've been living in for so long
for so many generations.
However, your mom and dad used to speak to each other.
You don't have to do that.
Grab the good, throw out the bad.
Or just throw it all out and just start from scratch and ask the Holy Spirit, what do you
want?
How do you want to do this?
What is our dance?
One of our family members says that's just their dance.
I'm like, as long as it's a godly dance, I don't care.
But it's their dance.
Because again, kind of like you said, we don't have to stick to the patterns of how we were
raised.
We don't even have to stick to the patterns of what we used to do as adults because we
are adopted in.
We are grafted in.
Through that adoption, through that process, we are new people.
We no longer have to, well, that's how I've always been or that's how my family is.
I could sit there and I know, like you said, there's been a lot of health issues going
on lately.
And I could sit here and say, well, because of family history, I'm going to do this or
this is what's going to happen to me.
Again, we are new creatures.
We are born again.
We are grafted into this new family.
And that stops.
We can declare that that stops.
And again, it's back to the legacy.
We don't have to accept the legacy of what we were raised in.
So good.
That's right.
So good.
That's right.
And it's like, and even if what we have been doing, like our marriage itself, the last
10 years, standing back and saying, what can we even do better?
What can we even do better?
How can we keep growing?
How can we keep evolving into who it is that God's called us to be in this season?
Reminding ourselves that God is almost like this, he's kind of a constant rotating wheel
as opposed to a linear God.
It's seasons, it's that constant rotation, it's that constant, this is a different season.
Some things you just kind of, they die away.
Some things lay dormant.
Some things you uproot.
Some things you're planting.
It's in a constant state of motion.
And if you allow the Holy Spirit to come and start uprooting all of this stuff that you
say, Father, what is it that you want gone?
Even if it was good 10 years ago, God, it may not be good today, show me what's good
today.
Show me what's good today even 10 minutes ago.
Show me what you want now so I can be intentional with my time, so I can be a good steward with
my life, and so I can leave a legacy for my children and my children's children that they
know that there is a God because they saw him move mightily in my life and through my
life.
I like that, babe.
That was really good.
That's so good.
I like this new equipment.
This is fun.
We're going to have to get used to it, guys, but it's going to be good.
Yep.
We're growing.
We're getting bigger.
Talking about evolving.
Here you are.
Woo!
Sorry if that was loud.
Okay, you'll fix it.
It's fine.
You'll fix it.
It's going to be a good week.
Yes, it will.
I'm excited.
Yes.
Leave a legacy wherever you go.
That's right.
Literally, leave a legacy even if it's just shifting the atmosphere.
Yeah, just one little thing at a time.
One little thing.
It doesn't have to be something monumental.
No, not at all.
Find somebody, not maybe necessarily in a parking lot, but something of that nature.
It might happen.
You never know.
That's true.
Who needs to be seen.
Yeah.
Who needs a smile?
You never know who needs to have life injected into their day.
Yeah.
All right, guys.
Have the best week.
It tree.