Discipleship Network Forum

When my daughter Molly recently asked me my favorite Bible verse, I didn’t have an answer ready.

“I have lots of favorites!” I told her. “I guess it depends on the week you ask me.”

But Molly was persistent, as she always is. She wanted an answer, yet it still was difficult for me to narrow down the list.

One of the verses I mentioned to her is Psalm 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  

Notice the incredible confidence King David expressed when he wrote these words. He was certain that if he followed the Lord as his Good Shepherd, he would experience blessings in this present life that would carry all the way into eternity.

David’s words began to resonate in my heart last summer. I was on a sabbatical, pondering what kind of “legacy” I was leaving. As I prayed about how to have a greater impact in the years ahead, I kept thinking of the example of Johnny Appleseed and the awesome long-term power of sowing seeds.

Johnny Appleseed’s actual name was John Chapman, and he lived from 1774 to 1845. He was a pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the northern counties of present-day West Virginia. In pursuit of his mission, he traversed 100,000 square miles of Midwestern wilderness and prairie. 

Johnny became a legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. He also was a Christian missionary, sowing seeds of the Gospel while planting apple orchards to benefit the growing number of pioneers. After his death, he became the inspiration for many museums and historical sites, not to mention numerous animated movies to tell his story to future generations.

In studying Johnny’s life, I was amazing by the ways his legacy outlasted him. In addition to planting countless apple trees for others, he left an estate of over 1,200 acres of valuable nurseries to his sister. He also owned four plots in Allen County, Indiana, including a nursery in Milan Township that had 15,000 trees. In Nova, Ohio, there’s still an apple tree planted by Johnny – bearing fruit more than 175 years after his death.

So…I want to be more like Johnny Appleseed. Day after day, I want to sow seeds of God’s “goodness and mercy” to everyone I meet, whether they are believers or unbelievers. Yes, I’m excited about dwelling in the Lord’s house forever in eternity, but I want to leave a legacy behind me when I go.

If Johnny Appleseed’s trees could still bear fruit more than 175 after he passed from this life, I pray that some of my seeds will bear long-lasting fruit as well.

What kinds of seeds are you sowing today? The type of seeds will determine the type of legacy you leave. There may not be any museums or movies made to commemorate your life, but people in heaven will one day give you thanks.

More than 30 years ago, I received a call from an elderly man named John Hunter. Someone had given him my name, and he said he hoped I might be able to answer some of his questions about the new things God was doing in the church.

I agreed to meet with him, and after that initial meeting John and I got together often. I learned that he had already known the Lord for more than 50 years—much longer than I had even been alive at that point. He didn’t flaunt his credentials, but he also had many years of experience as a church leader and Bible teacher. John clearly knew Christ in a deep and profound way.

So why did he want to get together with me? That was something I always found puzzling. Was it that he had a fatherly concern for me as a young Christian leader? Yes, I’m sure he wanted me to succeed as a leader—but that was not why he wanted to get together.

Did he want to straighten out my theology? No, that was the furthest thing from his mind.

Still to this day, I’m shocked by John’s primary reason for wanting to spend time with me: He was so hungry for the things of God that he hoped to learn something even from a “youngster” like me.

This may not seem so remarkable to you, but it still challenges me to the very core of my being. Why? Because John Hunter was hungrier for the Lord than I was.

Let me explain…

Before I met John, I was pretty satisfied with the spiritual level I had attained. I felt knowledgeable about the Scriptures and in touch with the Holy Spirit—wasn’t that enough? But John exemplified the same kind of insatiable hunger for God that the apostle Paul wrote about:

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [mature], have this attitude (Philippians 3:12-15).

Until his dying day, John Hunter was still pressing on, not satisfied with the knowledge of God he already had. In his later years John developed Parkinson’s Disease, which made it much more difficult to “press on”—but he did nonetheless. His gait was more wobbly each time we met, as if his tall, lanky body might fall at any moment.

But he insisted on getting together anyway.

When we sat to have lunch, John’s hands shook violently if he tried to gesture or to bring a spoon to his mouth. Often his food spilled on his shirt, drawing the attention of those at neighboring tables in the restaurant.

As his final days approached, John’s words came out slowly and slurred. Sometimes he didn’t finish the sentences he started. But I could always sense the presence of the Lord during the times we shared.

It will be great to see John Hunter again someday. In heaven, I’m sure he has a fantastic new body, unaffected by anything like Parkinson’s. And I can’t wait to see how his childlike spiritual hunger is finally being satisfied as he dances in worship before God’s throne.

Let’s remind each other to follow John Hunter’s example, always yearning to go higher, toward the “upward call of God” for our lives. Let’s stay hungry until our hunger is fulfilled in eternity.

And perhaps the Lord would even have us invest ourselves in a new generation, as John Hunter did with me. Our lives will be changed when we do.