The first island they find nothing but sadness, underfed children, tribal conflict and needy people.

The second and following islands, more of the same.

When they go ashore on the last island, the largest of the islands the captain and his men find healthy, happy well fed people. The island had a systematic road system and well developed irrigation systems to nourish their fields. The children were physically strong and emotionally stable. The ship’s captain asked the chief of the island to explain why his island is more developed than the others.

Quickly the chief said, Father Benjamin had educated them in health and agriculture, he had built schools, health clinics and dug wells for water.
The captain asked the chief to take him to see Father Benjamin. Complying with the request, the chief brought the captain to a medical clinic equipped with clean beds and staffed with trained caregivers who showed off their medicines and supplies.

The captain asked if he could be taken to where Father Benjamin lives. This request confused the natives but after conferring with each other, three of them invited the captain to follow them. They brought him to the other side of the island. They showed the captain some fishponds there with canals that connected the fishponds to the ocean. As the tides rise, fish pass from the ocean into the canals and then into the ponds. The islanders then lower the canal gates and trap the fish for harvest. The captain met fishermen, net-casters, workers and gatekeepers but no Father Benjamin. He began to wonder if he wasn’t making himself clear.

Again he asked the three natives to bring him to where Father Benjamin lives and again the three were confused and conferred with each other. Finally the chief offered to take the captain to the mountain top. It was a steep and twisty climb up a narrow path which brought them to a grass roofed chapel. In a soft and earnest voice the chief told the captain that Father Benjamin had taught them about God. After he was shown the inside of the chapel, the captain asked if this was where Father Benjamin lived. The natives smiled and nodded. “May I talk with him?” the captain asked.

The chief told him that would be impossible because Father Benjamin had died many years ago.
Confused the captain said, “I asked to see him and you showed me a clinic, some fish farms and this chapel, you said nothing about his death.”
The chief replied, “You asked nothing about his death, you asked us to show you where Father Benjamin lives… and we showed you.”

You get one shot at this thing called life on earth. Will you continue to live after your body gives out and you breathe your last? Or have you built a legacy, a life that will continue on after the physical you had died.
In his latest book “Outlive Your Life.” Max Lucado challenges us to consider that critical question. You and I were made to make a difference – are we?