The Legacy

On March 13, my family will be remembering that my maternal grandfather, Calvin Callcayah Smith was born on that date in 1894. It prompted me to pull out and revise a piece I had written several years ago.

A Legacy Left For Our Family

                  Grandpa was one of the most supportive, encouraging people I ever knew. He thought my sister and I were wonderful musicians even though we practiced on a horribly out-of-tune piano, and his well-trained musical ear was tortured. Although he had only been able to attend school through the fourth grade, he was the adult in our family who consistently insisted my sister and I go to college. With his limited formal education one might think Grandpa would shy away from reading, but nothing could be farther from the truth. With Bible, lesson commentary, and red pencil in hand, he began on Sunday afternoon preparing his Sunday School lesson for the following Sunday. Grandpa could daily be seen in his chair with his Bible and trusty red pencil. 
        Whenever the hymn “In Loving-Kindness Jesus Came” is sung or played, my mind returns to a much earlier time in my life. I was in the lower elementary grades in school. My family was attending a revival at the little country church where we regularly worshiped. Saturday night near the close of the revival was always considered “testimony night” in those days of yesteryear. It was a time to praise the Lord for what He had done in the lives of parishioners during the two weeks of revival meetings.
       My grandfather rose to his feet and began to speak. As a congregation we had just finished singing “In Loving-Kindness Jesus Came” or as we referred to it then “He Lifted Me.” Grandpa began to recount how desperately “sinking” he was in his sins and how the Lord had lifted him to a new way of living. He quoted from Psalm 40:2 in the original King James Version saying, “He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my foot upon a rock, and established my goings.” 
      I later learned from my mother that Grandpa was in his mid thirties when he trusted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Grandmother and the tiny congregation at the little rural community church fasted and prayed for his salvation. Grandmother following the death of her father had only recently become a Christian. After his salvation, Grandfather, a gifted fiddler, never played again since he associated the instrument so closely with his old lifestyle. We often questioned this decision, because he could have used this talent for the Lord: but nevertheless, it was his conviction. Also, he had been a talented baseball pitcher with an opportunity to play in the American League, but he never played again after his conversion since most games were played on Sunday. Sunday for him was the Lord’s Day, a day of worship.
       At Grandpa’s funeral, I recall the word “legacy” being used. Grandpa did not bequeath to our family riches or great holdings, but he left us a rich legacy of faith and commitment to the Lord that would stand the test of time and endure throughout all eternity.         
       Lord, may we, as a family, enrich others’ lives daily and further glorify You by our unwavering obedience to Your commands from Your Word as Grandpa did. May we leave behind as rich and lasting a legacy as he did.

Calvin Callcayah Smith in the early 1920s.