Carla was called in twice this week due to another employee being ill – have mixed emotions, she likes work, but she is putting in too much time on her feet.  However, her choice.

We are supposed to get some rain this weekend, dampers gardening, but it is good for the garden.  Still a bit early, anyway, for major working of the soil, just too wet.

Hebrews 11:38-40 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

⁴⁰ God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

As I said, yesterday, it was time for me to make a list of those people who have helped me grow in Christ.

The list started out easy, no problem with memory.  Carla, her parents and siblings, our children and their spouses were the first on the list.

Several years ago I started listing those that have helped me in a professional manner – some of those overlap, Alan, Chris, Clay, Gary, Jim, Gerry to name a few – those people have helped me through the years even after I left the profession.

Pastors are on it, and most of their spouses.  Teachers and leaders in the church, people who prayed with me, counseled me and took me under their wings.  People who may not have shared their faith verbally, but did so in the way they led their lives and demonstrated Christ living within.

Some names are coming, readily, others I can picture, but can’t put their name on them, yet, but I have a comment or two to jog my memory.

Those names are now over sixty and counting.

What surprised me as I mulled over the people who have helped me grow in Christ were my nemeses.  Men and women who caused me a great deal of pain, forced me to my knees asking God’s help in dealing with them and/or their ‘jibes’ and the difficulties I was going through because of them.

No, I am not dwelling on that, but it is important to remember that sometimes God uses others to get our attention; while it may not be pleasant, the ordeals can be a process of growing in Christ IF we let it.

In Hebrews 11 Paul gives a quick reminder of how the Jewish forefathers had and used their faith in God to obey, love and follow Him.

They went through many things, and countless were not pleasant, but even in those times, once they turned back to God, their faith grew.

These are some of the witnesses that Paul talked about – witnesses to them and to us of God’s great Love and Grace.

let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Now, it is up to us to be witnesses for Christ to others.

As I am going through my list I find that a lot of why these people impacted me was their actions.  They not only proclaimed Christ in word, but also in deed, seldom straying from the path that God has set for them.

They are dependable and their counsel is wise and life giving.  Some of them may not have been aware I was watching, unaware that I used them as examples of how to walk in Christ’s light – going about their day, getting things done and showing Christ in all they do.

Several have gone to be with the Lord, or have moved and I no longer have contact with them, but, remembering them, helps me to remember how God places people in our lives as He uses them to help us grow.

Now, it is my responsibility to show that same desire to have Christ shine in me, that others will be a witness of my faith and glorify God.

let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Later, Art :-)