Influence

Over the past few days I have been thinking about the different people that God has placed in my life who have provided me with a positive influence.  I think about school teachers who challenged me to excel in my studies and I think about Sunday School teachers and Youth Leaders who helped bring the Bible alive to me in a very personal way. I was raised in a Pastor's home and I think about all of the wonderful ministers who came to our home over the years and showed me a real hunger and passion for Jesus Christ.  I think of my parents who have served the Lord all of my life and even until this very day they keep showing me the importance of loving God and loving people regardless of their status in society.  I think of my wife who has been a very positive role model of care, concern, and compassion for our family as well as the people that we have served through the years. I think of the spiritual leaders and mentors that God has placed in my life over the years who have modeled to me the example of Christian service as well as the example of continuing to improve and upgrade my ministerial training.  I also think of various congregations in which we have served as Pastors over the years. Each of these congregations had people who were a very positive role model in which they served faithfully without much fan fare or attention.  This is just a short list of people who have played a major role of influence in my journey through life.  Each of you could develop a list like this one and you probably should develop a list like this so that you can reflect on your journey through life and appreciate those people who have influenced you in your life.  No one of us have reached our present status in life alone; God strategically placed people in our lives at the right moments in which we needed their influence to help us keep moving in the right direction.

It is easy to reflect and remember those people who were a bad example or bad role model.  All of us can remember friendships that proved to be more of  a detriment than a benefit to our progress through life.  But today I want us to focus on those people who have been a positive influence.  Some of these individuals may have already passed from this life to their eternal reward while others of them are still alive and still being a positive influence to society.  Don't wait until they have passed before you share your appreciation.  Take a moment today and share with them your sincere appreciation.  You will feel better after you take this action and the individual or individuals will be blessed and encouraged by your words of appreciation.

In the next blog I will write about two individuals who touched my life in the past few days.  Have a great day and remember; we have the opportunity to be a person of influence.  Make the decision to be a person of positive influence as you move throughout the remainder of your life on this earth.