I want a multi-generational story.

A scene from the Passion facade

La Sagrada Familia is the most breathtakingly beautiful cathedral I have ever stepped foot in. As I walked towards the entrance, I was immediately confronted by the pain of the cross as stone statues seemed to express emotion even better than my own human face and brought the passion story to life. Once inside, I was greeted by a forest of massive columns, each one with arms raised in praise as they supported the cavernous ceiling. After spending weeks writing and rewriting this paragraph, trying desperately to come up with words deserving of describing this glorious building, I'm giving up - I'll let the photos do the talking from here on out.

Sagrada Familia was designed by Barcelona's famous architect and favorite son, Antoni Gaudi. Throughout Barcelona, Gaudi's work is prominent and constitutes the majority of the top tourist destinations in the city, but Sagrada Familia was his magnum opus - the greatest work of his life. He started designing the cathedral in 1883, and it's still under construction today - a masterpiece over 125 years in the making. Gaudi is buried in the basement, and as I looked at his grave, I pitied him. How sad it must be to die with your greatest work left unfinished, grossly unappreciated, and without even the solace of knowing if it will be continued after you're gone or scrapped altogether. Yet perhaps that's just how the greatest stories are told.

The ceiling inside La Sagrada Familia

Voddie Baucham is one of the greatest preachers I've ever heard. A towering black man, his commanding stage presence delivers his wise and deep insight into scripture with an efficacy like no one else. Every summer, he was invited to a church I used to attend to do a sermon series while the main pastor was on vacation, and one year he decided to teach on the book of Jeremiah. I wasn't particularly excited about his upcoming sermon on Jeremiah 29:11 because I expected it to be boring, old hat stuff. The verse reads: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" and I'd heard it paraded out in countless sermons and testimonies - always used as proof that God wants nothing but rainbows and lollipops for your life. In the tenets of lucky rabbit's foot Christianity, Jeremiah 29:11 is an oft used favorite.

As Voddie read the verse in his bellowing voice worthy of an R&B singer, the warm and fuzzies built up in the hearts of the audience. Then, he made a bold statement, directly contradicting everything I had ever heard before. Voddie increased his volume level by 3 notches and his intensity level by 10 and exclaimed "that promise wasn't made to you!" He went on to put the verse in context - the Jews were in captivity in Babylon at the time it was written, and if anyone even bothered to read the preceding Jeremiah 29:10, they'd learn God had no plans to deliver them from captivity for 70 more years! Kinda robs the verse of its sugarplums and feel-goods, doesn't it?

Voddie Baucham

No, the promise of the verse certainly was not directed at any one person, and you can't claim it as your own. God made that promise to the Jewish people, and He didn't get them back to Israel for 150 years - long after everyone who originally read Jeremiah 29:11 was dead and buried. I've come to learn God is often willing to sacrifice the comfort and fleeting happiness of individuals in favor of multi-generational masterpieces. Do you know how Gaudi died? At age 73, Gaudi was walking to church to pray when he was hit by a tram. The collision merely injured him and rendered him unconscious, but his clothes were so raggedy, people mistook him for a beggar and left him for dead on the streets of Barcelona.

Me inside of La Sagrada Familia

While that may sound depressing, from what I've read about Gaudi, I don't think he would have preferred it any other way. Gaudi had no intention of completing his greatest work in his lifetime - La Sagrada Familia was always intended to be a legacy. A legacy that would not only inspire young architects for generations to come, but also give them an opportunity to be a part of the story - adding new facades and towers to Gaudi's original design, making it all the more majestic along the way. As for the Jews, the Babylonian captivity was probably the greatest thing to ever happen to their faith. It lead to the development of the Hebrew script, the canonization of the Bible, and making scripture critical to their daily life. The way the word of the Lord has thrived in the millennia since is part of the magnificent legacy God promised to the captives in Jeremiah 29:11 - a greater "hope" and "future" than anything they could have ever dreamed up.

My Dad and me

I started this blog six months ago with a simple premise: I want a better story. Yet that's not good enough anymore - I want a multi-generational story. I want to be a part of a Sagrada Familia so grand it takes generations to write it. As I've written before, I'm scared to death of kids. Yet this lesson God is teaching me in this season of my life is making me reevaluate how I think of children, how I view my finances, and how much my personal comfort actually matters.

My father loved Jesus. After becoming a Christ-follower in college, he dropped out of engineering school and transferred to Bible college (much to my grandfather's chagrin). He spent the rest of his life sharing the Gospel with a world in desperate need of it. When I was six years old, he died of a heart attack at the ripe, old age of 32. Yet even in the midst of the sharp pain and grief of death, he left behind a lasting legacy that's still being built upon today. He didn't live to see men such as Geof, whom he mentored, grow up to be amazing men of God, nor did he get to experience the glory of my friend Andrew coming to know Christ, yet they're all part of his legacy, his magnum opus. Everyday, I'm thankful for having the privilege of continuing to lay bricks on my father's Sagrada Familia.



What I'm listening to during this post:


Want to watch Voddie's sermon on Jeremiah 29:11? Here it is:


2 More photos from our visit to La Sagrada Familia:

La Sagrada Familia

A view inside one of Sagrada Familia's towers