Yesterday I shared with you seven principles from Pat Williams, Vice-President of the Orlando Magic, on the power of influence. I want to go back and share an illustration of the 4th point: “Take advantage of every ‘moment of influence.’
” …. after [the lad] was born he was given over to the care of his nanny, a Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Everest, and it is hard to overestimate her influence on him. She was the traditional image of the British Nanny suggests: plump, jolly, full of stories, and unceasingly overprotective. While his parents neglected him in pursuit of their social and political dreams, Mrs. Everest was the center of [the lad’s life].
Someone wrote that in the lad’s solitary childhood and unhappy school days, Mrs. Everest was his comforter, his strength and stay, his one source of unfailing human understanding. She was the fireside at which he dried his tears and warmed his heart. She was the night light by his bed. She was security. She was also his first contact with Christianity …”
” … she was also a passionate woman of prayer and taught [the lad] well. She helped him memorize Scriptures, knelt with him daily as he recited his prayers, and explained the world to him in simple but distinctly Christian terms. He, in turn, adored her and regarded every word as on par with the law of God.
” … the more important lessons she taught him were also deeply embedded in his life. Years later, when he was under fire on some remote battlefield or entangled in the most troubling difficulties, he found himself praying the prayers he had learned at Mrs. Everett’s knee.”
Years later when Mrs. Everett was on her death bed, [the lad]returned to stay by her bedside until she went home to be with the Lord. He never forgot the influence of her life on his. It is said that Sir Winston Churchill’s “lasting devotion to her is evidenced by the picture of her that sat on his desk throughout his life and lay at his bedside when his own death came seventy years later.” (Quoted from Never Give In — The Extraordinary Life Character of Winston Churchill by Stephen Mansfield — Cumberland House)
Brothers, that is a powerful testimony of the power of our influence on the life of someone else. What kind of influencer do YOU want to be? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK
God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 14; Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20
Great Quote: “We must remember that God will never drag us along the path of true-hearted discipleship. This would greatly lack the moral Excellency which characterizes all the ways of God. He does not drag, but draw, us along the path which leads to ineffable blessedness in Himself; and if we do see that it is for our real advantage to break through all the barriers of nature, in order to respond to Gods’ call, we forsake our own mercies. But alas! our hearts little enter into this. We begin to calculate about the sacrifices, the hindrances, and the difficulties, instead of bounding along the path, in eagerness of soul, as knowing and loving the One whose call as sounded in our ears”. C H Macintosh
Don’t forget Men’s Fellowship Night this Thursday. We’d love to have you join us! Call 732-350-1187.
Freedom Fighters 