Footprints Left

Perhaps it is a vision statement. Perhaps it is a life mission. Perhaps it an all-inclusive goal setting.

When one day I look back on my life, I want to know I left my footprints all over the lives and hearts of the people I interacted with along the way. I want those footprints to be evident in those who are lost, in my closest friends, and even the strangers I come across only for a moment in any given day. I want to have left my footprints all over the lives of people. 

I do not want my footprints to be for my own recognition, but because my footprints prove I showed up. I want my footprints on the hearts and lives of people only because I came running when I saw God's activity in their lives. When I saw God's movement in different moments, I stepped in. 

That is the influence and impact I want my life to leave. I want it to be unlike footprints in the sand and entirely like footprints in wet cement that dried before the imprint could be smoothed out. 

Impact of Imago

We are made in the imago dei. Every human being is made in the image of God. This means a great many things. Specifically, it does mean we are all connected. As God is 3 in 1, we are all connected in a great way. There is a solidarity to the image of God we are all connected within.

Think of this!

This means every interaction, no matter how passing or intentional, has an impact. Every smile, hug, and conversation has an impact. Every relationship, no matter how intimate or shallow, has an impact. You may never see a person again, but in that second your smile could impact the rest of their hour or day. It means even your small acquaintance has an impact.

Think of how crazy it is that you, a human being, have the capacity to impact another human being.

What impact will you have?

Ragamuffin Leadership

I was an RA at Anderson University, and I remember the chance to revisit the campus I worked.  Upon the visit, I was able to hang out with the ragamuffins who lived on my floor.  What a great time of fellowship!  I have often said that fellowship is when the mighty descend and the lowly rise, but I also think fellowship happens when the lowly congregate. Anyway, it was wonderful to be with the men I lived close to for a year and see where their lives were then and now.  My mind went back to a conversation I had with a friend of mine on campus.  She said, "Ya know!  They say the floor almost always becomes reflections of their RA."  I thought to myself, "Oh no!  That cannot happen.  Nobody wants that.  One P.C. is bad and crazy enough."  Then I went back to visit them and realized how true that is of ANY LEADER on ANY LEVEL.  If you are like me, you realize how ridiculously humbling it can be.

I went back to find freshmen and sophomores then sophomores and juniors who were IN LOVE WITH THE GOSPEL.  I went back to see the craziest guys on campus then...still crazy...but almost each and every one of them filling some sort of leadership role.  I saw several of them in raw honest accountability groups [ash trays included].  I saw a group of guys who pursued God with all their hearts.  I got to see a group of guys in love with Jesus at the very core of their being but who are looked down upon as the "unorthodox" group.

My last day there, one of the guys came up to me before I left for the airport and said, "PC, I just went to an interview for [a large Christian summer camp], and the guy asked me, 'Who is one leader in your life you have respected the most and why,' and I said, 'PC Walker, my RA last year."  He said it was because I lead in a way that built a relationship he respected, and then it was as though I stepped back to watch them grow.

I had no idea.  I was just getting close to my guys and letting them get close to me...the real me.

No matter what level of leadership you are in...even if you do not think you are a leader (you ARE), WE ALL PASS A BIT OF OURSELVES ONTO OTHERS.  That is the great inevitability of relationships.  We all have INFLUENCE to give and receive, to pass on and take on.  Its as easy as creating relationships.

Simple Coffee

Simplicity is not poverty, and it is not simple. In fact simplicity requires considerable thought as you sort through various things to determine which resources can be limited in order to actually rely on God. But another significant aspect of simplicity is the intentional celebration of life; enjoying the good (and often overlooked) things of life.

I have been reading through a reader called "Praying with Francis of Assisi" by Joseph Stoutzenberger, and there is a chapter about simplicity. Stoutzenberger writes an exercise I chose to take hold of while I sat in a Charlotte coffee shop with my buddy Justin Wallace as he prepared to speak for his group of college students that evening.

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He writes:

Pour a glass of your favorite beverage, or slice up a piece of your favorite fruit, cheese, cake, pie, or bread. Set the glass or plate in front of you. Reflect on the wonder of drink and food, their color, texture, and composition from earth to their present state.

Next, savor the smell of the beverage or food. Finally, take one sip or bite, roll the drink around your tongue or chew the food slowly. Closing your eyes may help to get the full effect.

Finish drinking the beverage or eating the food very slowly, pausing between each sip or bite.

End this action by praising God for His simple wonder.

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Done!