Impact

On Friday evening my sister called me to tell me one of my favorite teachers from high school had passed away. At first I was in shock. I knew she had been diagnosed, I believe with leukemia, but it just caught me off guard that she was gone.

She was one of the teachers who really poured into people. My junior year I went through several months with major depression. And it was in that time that she really began to have an impact on me. She was there to listen and offer encouragement. When depression was over we had a bond. She had been there for me in the hard times. Even after graduation we'd kept in touch. I'd go back to see her and we'd sit and talk in the English teacher's office.

As my wife and I went to viewing yesterday afternoon the parking lot was full, and there was a man directing parking. We got into the funeral home and it took us more than an hour to get through the line to see her. And as we waited the line just kept getting longer and longer. I don't know that I've ever been to a viewing like that before.

It made me think about my own life. Am I making an impact in the lives of people? Would there be a hours long line at my funeral? I have a hard time thinking of who would be there outside of family and my closest friends.

I want a life like she lived. I want to make an impact. Not so people will line up to pay their final respects to me. Not so people will say how great of a man/pastor I was. I want to make an impact for the Kingdom. I know that might sound cliche, but I think about the people who have impacted my life. The ones that I really remember, that stand out, are the ones that have helped me become more like Christ. The ones that haven't focused on their own glory or advancement, but simply the glory of God. And the more I'm around death, the more I want the glory of God to be my main focus, my only focus.

I want to make an impact for Jesus. I want to leave the world a better place than it was when I got here, and that can be as simple as making a difference in one life. Being there for one person during a season of depression in high school goes a lot farther than just that one person.

Make an impact.

Peace be with you