There's something about an itinerary. I mean, you can talk a good game about going on a trip to serve the Lord, your church or spreading the gospel to those in need, but when you receive your itinerary for the first time, something changes.

Yesterday after church, Loretta and I had an all-day gathering with our fellow team members for Israel. As many of you know, we'll be traveling to the middle east as part of a reconciliation mission between Jewish and Palestinian children, and the first item on our agenda the morning we arrive in Tel Aviv is: "Breakfast in Bethlehem."

Now, I'm not the first person to travel to Israel for a mission trip, but part of me wonders if everything God allowed for me over the course of my 44 years - all my failures, all my faults, all my futility, all my training, all my lifting, all my study, all my daily devotions, all my surgeries, all my illness, all my inability and abilities, my weakness, my atrophy, my brokenness - everything - He has allowed for my good and His glory was meant to prepare me for that little meal.

Ok, perhaps I'm being a bit sentimental. But on Saturday morning, we had a men's prayer breakfast at church. The topic: Our legacy. We learned that our legacy can be many things. For some, it's what we earn, or drive, or live in. My mind wandered to our fitness industry; what we build, how we look, our physical impression, our struggle, our transformation. 

So please do me a favor and help me write this week's lessons. In the comment section below, what does legacy mean to you? It's our topic this week, so I would love to hear your thoughts. Define it for me, and if you wouldn't mind, tell me what you want your legacy to be. 

My legacy, as it turns out, will peak a few hours after I land in Tel Aviv; at a breakfast in Bethlehem.

- jimmy peña

Preparing For Israel: For the believer, no legacy is worth anything unless it points others to Jesus. And it's with that heart that I'm working hard to get ready for the trip. I'm trying to get a little lighter (currently weighing 170 lbs.) Many of you know I try and stay lean because my spine (and colon) function best the lighter I am, but I would like to live around 160 lbs by the time we leave. Would you like to be a part of my training journal? If so, give me a thumbs up.