Influence

We are home for a few days between travel. This week we spent time at the association of churches' annual business meeting. Business meetings are a bit dreary, but I was glad I decided to go with John instead of staying home. John always takes books to sell (at a better price than they can get anywhere else) and serves free coffee, so a lot of people come by his table to talk.

There were a couple of moments that really impressed me. On the last day, a lady came up to John and told him how a Sunday School lesson he taught at their church had encouraged her. She had shared the same lesson in a couple of other contexts, and people had loved it. We had visited her church kind of as an after thought, and John had given one of those "I have a lesson prepared in case I am asked" lessons.

At another point, a young man from the church we had attended in San Pedro when we lived there stopped me. He told me how they were continuing Andrew's ministry with puppets and that it was impacting people. Andrew and I got involved with doing puppets because Andrew needed a way to serve. He had enjoyed working with some of the younger young people in the church, but we figured the ministry would die after he left.

Christina is a wonderful young woman, with three children. Her husband is studying at the seminary. They live in a small apartment above the library. She and her husband often help John sell books. In the course of one conversation she told me that she often remembers how I told her that she should enjoy her children and not worry so much if the house isn`t 100% perfect all the time. I don't remember even saying that (though it sounds like something I would say).

Influence. We influence people all the time by what we say and do and are. We never know what it is that is going to be significant to someone else. That's why it is all important. It matters how we live the ordinary.