I grabbed the leaf blower and Winston went crazy. The first time I used it, I thought he was afraid. He’s not. He thinks I am playing with him. Crazy dog…
I swept back and forth, clearing the leaves and dirt from my patio. Good grief is there a lot of dirt in Yuma! Then, instinctively, I went back and pushed the blower along the cracks and cleared them, too.
My Uncle Bill would be proud! As anyone who ever served with my Uncle Bill, there is only one way to correctly blow off sidewalks. We used to call it The Bill Brewer method. You learned The Method by watching him do it. It was drilled into us as staff members, and woe be unto you if you didn’t practice it. As a result, every Sunday morning, rain, shine, or dust storm, Faith Assembly always looked as neat as a pin.
I haven’t been on staff with Uncle Bill for over twenty years, yet his lessons remain firmly in my heart and head. I learned them from watching and listening to him. Although might argue with me about the listening part!
Uncle Bill was my mentor, my model for ministry, and a surrogate father to me. He has joined my grandparents in Heaven, and I miss him every day.
It makes me wonder who am I influencing like Uncle Bill influenced me? Our lives should be showing the people around us what it means to be a Christian, not just with our words, but with our actions.
James 1:22-24 says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
I can’t forget how to blow walks the right way; it is ingrained in my brain. When we apply the Word of God to our lives and live in it, it becomes part of us. It flows out of everything we do, say, and act.
So let’s get out there and live the Word! The people around you are watching you, and you have a chance to influence them to Christ.