I love the story about the man who was very ill.  He told his wife that when he died he wanted her to put all his money in the attic so that he could take it with him.  Right after the funeral the wife rushed home and ran up to the attic and found the money still there.   She said, “I knew I should have put it in the basement.”

Well you know you can’t take it with you, but through a will you can take responsibility for the distribution of what is left behind and you can do it as a good Christian steward.  Did you know that 80% of us don’t even have a will.  Studies have shown that 2/3 of all lawyers don’t even have a current estate plan. 

There seems to be some fear in making a will.   Some people feel that if they make a will it means that they most assuredly will die in the near future.   I know my father felt that way.  I kept asking him to get a will, but he kept putting it off until one day I sent him some material in the mail about estate planning and I forgot to put the stamp on it.  Well he of course, wanted to see what I was sending him so he paid the postage.  And boy was he ticked when he saw what he had paid for.  He was so ticked that he went out and made a will.

Now making a will won’t cause you to die sooner and probably won’t make you live any longer. But it will give you peace of mind and for that reason alone it is a good reason to make a will.

You know when I said that 80% of us don’t have a will I wasn’t quite right.  You actually do have a will or that is the state has a will for you.  Let me tell you there are some high administrative fees associated with it and some real problems for your families and you have no choice are to where your assets will go.  So my friends, it is important to make a will and it can be a wonderful experience

Imagine giving away everything you have, just sitting down and choosing who is going to get all that you have.  What will go to the children and family and friends and what you want to give to your favorite charities and your church?   We all like to give things to people we love and that is what happens when you make a will.  What a wonderful experience that would be.

In the process you are being a good steward.  You and not the state will be deciding on where you want your assets to go.  And believe me, if it was up to the state the only charitable organization they would consider would be the state.

And then there is the wonderful opportunity for family closeness in writing your will.  You can share with your children and family your thoughts about how you would like to distribute your estate and get their thoughts and input.  Now, if your family is like ours, and we have gone through this process, where will be tough moments as you talk about who gets what,  but in the end it can bring you closer together as a family. 

And there is the joy of having got it done.  Some people just keep putting it off and there is always that nagging guilt in the back of your mind.  You know you should do it but you just never seem to get around to it.  Well, just doing it is a tremendous sense of relief. 

Now when making a will certainly most people want to leave something for their children. And there maybe occasions when you need to leave most or all of your estate to the children.  There maybe children with special needs or parents who need help with college cost.  And there maybe family members of friends that have special needs that you want to consider in your will.  But often our children have provided well for themselves and they don’t need all our money and that is when you have to opportunity to consider some of your accumulated assets to other charities.

The other day we had that wonderful  community remembrance  service at the VA.  Well, I got a call from a person at the Arts Council asking if I would help with an invocation or benediction.  I said I would be glad to.  Then they asked if I could find another clergy to help.  And I said I would.  I got right on the phone and started calling my colleagues. On the third call I got a hold of Jim Kerr and Jim said he would be glad to help.  It was all set.  Well, the day before the service I got a call from Ted Bleck at the VA.  Now for those of you who do not know Ted, he is the head of the Chaplains services at the VA.  Very graciously Ted said "I understand there is going to be a service here at the VA.  Why wasn’t I notified or asked to participate?"   Well, I was so embarrassed and said "Ted, I apologize.  When I thought of clergy, you just didn’t come up on my radar screen.  I am really sorry."   Well he was very gracious and just hoped that in the future I would remember and I hope I will.

The point of that story is that when you begin thinking about how you want to distribute your assets in your will, I hope that the church will come up on your radar screen.  I know that you probably have other charities, like your college or the hospital or the Red Cross that you would want to include in your will, but I hope you would also want to include your church.

I know that there are many members who wish they could give more to the church on a regular basis, but can't.  Through your will you can make a much more substantial gift than you ever could during your life and have the joy of knowing that your gift will help ensure that the ministry of this church will continue to grow strong after you are gone.  You will have the joy of knowing that you have provided for your grandchildren and your friends' grandchildren the same opportunity you had to learn about God’s love.

Well, make a will, include the church in your will, tithe your estate, give it all to the church.  Let me tell you a true story about Annie Pitts.  Annie was a farmer's wife who lived for the last eight years of her life in a nursing home and you know what the cost of a nursing home is these days.  After her death the people at Folts Home, Gateway and her local church were shocked to discover that she had in her will she had  left $130,000 to each of them.

Her home church is a small village church with an annual budget of about $14-15,000 a year.  After the money they will get from her estate is invested they will get about $18-20,000, more than their annual budget.  Can you imagine the excitement around that table as the finance committee meets?   Now instead of trying to figure out how to come up with enough money to keep the church running, they find themselves deciding how to use that money in mission and ministry. And what a joy that is.   The whole dynamic of who they are as a church has changed and all because of Annie Pitts.