Fingerprints

Yesterday John Smoltz was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I only caught part of his acceptance speech on the radio, but it almost stopped me in my tracks. John began mentioning people whose “fingerprints” were on his life. He went on to describe how many different people had touched him on his journey from Lansing Michigan to becoming the newest inductee.

That got me to thinking about various people who have touched my life in a significant way, but more importantly about the lives I have touched as well. Aside from the very obvious such as our family, parents, children, siblings and spouses we touch and are touched by a multitude of different people that we usually do not even give a second thought about. Although you will not have a life changing impact on 99.9% of the people you meet there will be a few along the way whose lives will be forever changed directly because of you.

Many years ago I hired the young man as a salesperson. I normally get to work much earlier than most folks and I found this fellow sleeping in his car outside the office with his girlfriend about 6 am. Yes, they were living in the car. Sweet Janice and I took them in for a few days so they would have a safe place to sleep and get cleaned up. They were very much in love but were as broke as sweet Janice and I were when we started out. We paid for their wedding the next week because it seemed like the right thing to do. Several years later we got a note from this precious young couple that they had been married 10 years, had three beautiful children and were still very much in love.

I never thought in a million years that I would be making a living by turning wood, or have the chance to demonstrate this wonderful craft in front of 80 to 100,000 people each year. I could not even imagine that I would one day know as much about video production, web sites, running a business, designing and inventing products, or how to publish newsletters which would be read by hundreds of thousands of people every year. Nobody gets down this road of life all by themselves, I certainly didn’t. My encouragement to you today is that when the opportunity presents itself to touch someone, understand that you have a role to play and that your fingerprints may change that life more than you could ever know. Because wherever you go, there you are.

Here is my inspiration for this message:

New International Version

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.