Eternal Moments

As I grow older, I am amazed by some of the things my brain has tucked away.  What blows me away is how a single day, action, or statement has made a permanent effect upon my life.  Both good and bad things in my past can have a positive influence on me today and the rest of my time on earth.  I remember being corrected harshly as a child by the church secretary for asking her about her age or the embarrassing feeling when I unwittingly touched a toupee of my Sunday School teacher.  I remember Coach Lib sitting down the cross country team to discuss philosophy, and Mr. Kennedy dropping a metal trash can on the floor at Emerald Junior High.  I remember taking a friend to Taco Bell to cheer him up, and putting my foot in my mouth more times than I care to reflect upon.  We would all likely agree that every day we have a chance to make a positive, permanent influence on the lives of those around us for the glory of God.  The trouble is, because we can't mark those times on a calendar or plan for them, it seems those eternal moments go unrecognized.

Thinking back, it is easy for me to remember a lot of the people I worked with in the mechanical insulation industry.  I remember conversations I had with Navy sailors, places I worked, jobs we accomplished.  Yesterday I thought about a job I had at George Bailey detention center near the border.  I only worked on the jobsite with my buddy Tim for one day.  The "tin-knocker" (installer of the aircon duct we were wrapping) was a piece of work.  He was happy, yelling in his Filipino accent, and seemed to be having the time of his life as he worked.  Over and over he would yell, "Ho-kay sweet!"  I asked him what he was saying.  He said, "If you curse, people think you are a bad person.  So I just made up my own words to say."  And boy, did he say them with gusto!  All day long we heard "Ho-kay sweet" until we found ourselves echoing him.  The words echo in my head to this day, and I chuckle when I think of that crazy guy.

I don't know if that man thought working in the same building with me for one day would make such a long-lasting impression.  I certainly had no idea!  If someone is able to impact me simply with yelling "Ho-kay sweet!" at random times during working hours, how much greater and more positive an influence can God have through His people when they are yielded to Him!  We will never know the breadth or depth of impact we are making on people around us every day, whether we realise it or not.  If we recognized that every moment has the potential to be an eternal moment in someone's life, I'm thinking that simple fact would change the way we approach everything!  However, it does me no good to be preoccupied with the impact I could make.  In my flesh, no good thing dwells.  I am not able to do good without the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Agreeing with the fact that God wants to use me and that anyone can be used by God for the purpose of making an eternal impact in a moment's time is most encouraging.  When I focus on the fact that God can make a eternal difference through me, I look to Him for strength and guidance.

Today, you can make a difference!  It all starts with us allowing God to make us different and align our temporal perspectives with His eternal one.  Who knows?  God can use a smile, hug, a word of encouragement or reproof, even a cup of water given in His name to make an eternal moment out of the mundane.  Praise Him for His wondrous works!