You are our hope, our joy, and the crown we will take pride in when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. (1 Thessalonians 2:19)I guess it's natural as the year winds down and Christmas approaches to take personal inventory. This year, more than anything, I'm catching visions of people from my past... people who have made a difference in my life, and some for whom (hopefully) I've made a difference in theirs.
I think about Evelyn Musolff, who was my Sunday School teacher when I was probably about 8 years old. I will never forget her. Or Larry Best, who was also my Sunday School teacher when I was a pre-teen, and who took me and a friend trout fishing on opening day. I think of Beverly Kerstetter, my piano teacher, who confessed to me years later that she sat next to the piano bench every week as I played, praying that God would use my music for his kingdom. And of course there was my mom and dad. From my mom I learned a subtle lesson of how to persevere when things aren't going my way, and in a more overt way, my dad was the greatest spiritual influence in my life.
This Thessalonians passage reminds me that bank accounts, fancy cars, media broadcasts and publishing deals are not how I measure my impact as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When I stand before God, my reward will be Christ, and the changed lives of those connected to him because I was available when God called me, and when they needed me.
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