MAKING AN IMPACT Guest Blogger, Carol Cox

Thanks, Carol, for filling in for Judy. We always love hosting you, lady. Today is another great post!

Over the past week, my mind has been flooded with memories—some of a recent trip and some from much longer ago. The trip was one my daughter and I made when we spent a couple of days driving around northern Arizona. One of our favorite stops was Meteor Crater, about 35 miles east of Flagstaff.

There are numerous meteor impact sites around the world, but this one is the best known and best preserved, created when a chunk of iron-nickel from the Asteroid Belt spun off into space and headed this direction, careening through our atmosphere and plunging to earth at a speed of thousands of miles per hour.

This is the largest discovered fragment from the 150-foot-long meteorite. Imagine it being a boulder 15 stories tall, hurtling toward us.

You’d certainly expect that kind of impact to make a good-sized dent in the earth, but a crater 550 feet deep and nearly a mile across? Wowza!

If the area had been populated at the time that meteor hit the ground, you probably would have seen headlines like the one the little newsboy is peddling below.

Here’s a photo of me standing at the bottom. Whew! That was one long hike down. And it’s going to seem even longer, going back up.

Okay, not really. The crater is off-limits to hikers. But the museum has a lovely backdrop set up so you can try to convince your friends you actually managed to make the trek down.

I mentioned memories from long ago as well as these recent ones. This week, I attended the funeral—actually the homegoing celebration—of a woman I’ve known since childhood.

Her daughter and I met in third grade (more years ago than either one of us wants to admit) and wound up attending the same classes all the way through high school and college.

During those years, I got to see a lot of her family. At that time of my life, I was a churchgoer, but they had a relationship with Christ. Her parents never once tried to push their beliefs on me, but they lived out their faith in a way that spoke louder than words ever could.

Her mother offered a listening ear during the ups and downs of my teen years, always made me feel I had value—not because of what I did or didn’t do, but because of who I was. For someone who grew up convinced my worth depended on performance, that kind of unconditional acceptance was simply mind-boggling.

Her Christ-like witness helped lay a foundation that played a large part in my coming to know Jesus as my Savior. And she had a major influence in my choice of college . . . where I met my husband. In a very real sense, if it hadn’t been for her, the family I treasure today wouldn’t exist.

Not only that, but that early influence has trickled down to reach anyone who has been touched in any way through our years of ministry or by any words I’ve written.

At the funeral, the same phrases were heard over and over again from people who knew this special woman: “She encouraged me. She believed in me.” It was amazing to realize that the influence she had in my life can be multiplied hundreds—perhaps thousands—of times in the lives of others.

What a testimony to the impact a life can make when Jesus shines through it!

Which brings me back to Meteor Crater and the way one brief moment of contact can produce such far-reaching effects.

What kind of impact am I making on others? If I honor the Lord in my life, that impact just might reach much farther than I could ever dream.

What about you? Has anyone made a difference like that on your life? Want to share it with the rest of us?

~Carol

Check out Carol's Website and latest book

~ ~ ~

A quick note from Judy on the winner of the prize she announced on last week's blog post, a copy of A Patchwork Christmas tucked inside this cute Amana bag is: 

Veronica Brayboy

Woohoo! Yay, Veronica! Congrats, lady. Judy will be in touch to let you know how you can claim your prize, sweet lady!