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Circle of Influence: Ron's Faith Journey- Part 4
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Circle of Influence: Ron's Faith Journey- Part 4

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Hi friends!  On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will continue with the last part of Ron’s faith journey.  For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below.  Today’s story reminds me about how going on mission, even a short term one, opens ours eyes and perspective to what is truly important in life.  God will meet us there, and sometimes wreck us in the best possible way.  Ron, thank you again for sharing your wonderful story, and for reflecting God’s patience, love, gentleness, and wisdom to me and so many others.  It is my honor to call you friend.  Since this is a man’s testimony, Jeff, my husband, will be the voice for Ron’s story again.  If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below and consider doing a free or paid subscription.  With that, let’s dive into the last part of Ron’s story. Enjoy!

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God gave Christian another chance and let him live.  He spent weeks in the hospital.  When Christian was finally able to come home he was still in a body cast.  It was many, many months of recovery, but he’s alive today.  If Christian came in right now, you’d never know anything happened to him.  He has pins all over in him, and walks a little gimp now and then, but he is still here. 

For Mona and me, God used that painful event to rattle our cages and remind us that we needed Him.  After the dust settled, we knew we made a promise to God, and we had to do something about it.  We decided our next step was to find a church.  It was time.

Even though I was baptized in the Baptist Church and became Catholic at one point, both of my parents were Methodist.  Likewise, Mona was also born into a Methodist home.  Together we decided to start going to this great little church located nearby.  It was a Methodist Church in downtown Fernandina.  However, back then our approach was to show up for church, hear a good sermon, and then leave.  There was no personal relationship and community.  

Mona and I continued working at our jobs in the post office.  One day, I was transferred to St. Augustine to work as a postmaster.  Mona’s job was still in Fernandina, so we had to live about two hours away from each other for a while.  Instead of me coming all the way back to Fernandina or Mona coming all the way down to St. Augustine for church, we decided to find one located where we could meet halfway.  I told her there was a big Methodist church in Jacksonville Beach that we could try out.  She agreed to go and see if we liked it or not.

It was the first or second week we tried Beach church when we heard Pastor Joby preach at the 11:22 AM service.  It was around 2010 and there had been a tragedy in the community.  A young teenager, McKenzie Wilson, had suddenly gone into a coma and died.  There was an overflow of people in mourning.  Pastor Joby knew McKenzie, so when he preached it was fresh and raw.  I don’t remember the entire sermon, but I remember when Mona and I walked away, we were both crushed.  We looked at each other and realized that never in our lives had we heard somebody preach like this guy.  He was raw, in our face, and in our hearts.  It solidified that that was where we were supposed to be.  

The Church of Eleven22 eventually launched from Beach church in 2012 with Joby as its pastor.  We left Beach to be a part of the new church plant.  Early on, when Eleven22 had not yet launched, and was still an 11:22AM service at Beach, Pastor Joby threw out a challenge.  During a sermon he said that everyone had 3 years to go on a mission trip.  Now, I don’t know that they would actually kick anyone out of the church if they didn’t go on a mission trip, but we didn’t want to find out.  We were coming up on 3 years of being with the church, so we signed up to go out on mission to Manos de Fe in Panama.  We would head out in 2013.  It would be the first mission team sent out from Eleven22 after they launched in 2012.

To be honest, I had no desire to go to Panama.  I mean none whatsoever.  I went because Joby was so insistent that we do something.  When we headed out to Manos de Fe in January 2013, it changed me.  What we witnessed crushed us.  Mona and I developed a heart for Panama and its people.  It was like one of those milestones in my Christian walk. 

When our mission was over and it was time to leave Panama, I remember getting on that road and heading down the mountain.  It was dark and early in the morning.  Mona was so moved by our experience at Manos de Fe that she was crying.  I knew that Panama would forever be embedded in my spiritual DNA.  I don’t know any other way of explaining how much it meant to me. 

We realized something critical because of that awesome experience.  God moved in our hearts in a new way.  It struck us that we were willing to spend money to get on a plane to fly 1,200 miles, to get on another plane to fly another 400- 500 miles, to get on a bus to get to these mountains, to go and share the gospel.  Yet, these were people that we may never see again, living in a culture that we did not understand, and speaking a language we did not know.  If we were willing to do that, then there was nothing that we shouldn’t do to share the gospel with the circle of people that God had placed right around us.  The people who were right at home.  So, we left Panama on fire. 

Since our mission trip, that fire to reach others for God has never gone out.  It is still there.  Of course, there are times where we have to do things to bring the freshness back.  Every time we have returned to Manos de Fe we have experienced that renewal. 

God has always been faithful.  Through Christian’s accident and our mission trip to Panama, we were launched into full-time ministry.  Even though we were still working our regular jobs, we were in full-time ministry because we wove everything we did around reaching others.  It was integrated into our lives. 

God has blessed Mona and me with many opportunities to extend the gospel to others.  We have been to Panama and other mission trips and are both heavily involved in our church.  I have even been blessed to act as an elder there.  While we poured out into that church and those people, that ecclesia, we recognized something else that was very important.  God has delivered to us 12 grandchildren that we have influence over.   That is our circle of influence. 

We have no idea the impact we can have.  For example, my grandfather never experienced the person I am now.  He prayed for the person I am now for 40 years.  Now I get to do that for my grandchildren.  I love to pray.  I pray all the time.  Even though I’ll pray for anybody, I have this little green book that represents my circle of influence.  I go back and update it every so often because life changes.  Of course, Mona, my kids, and my grandchildren are obviously in that book.  These are the people I am praying for that I have direct influence over in my life. 

God created some people to be Billy Graham.  To literally go and speak to thousands, even millions, so they come to know Jesus.  Other people are called to just be good people, to live a good life, and to share Jesus with the people around them.  I think about my grandfather.  Sure, he was deacon at a little bitty church of one hundred, but it was never anything huge.  Yet, my granddaddy’s ministry was going on at the same time as Billy Graham’s, and he also had an impact.    

At this time in my life, I am looking to finish well.  Recently, God clearly dropped in my spirit that I needed to bring my teenage grandson to Manos de Fe on a mission trip.  I watched him experience so many new things.  Although I don’t know the exact impact, I know it will have one.  I mean I’m not looking to pass away any time soon, but I can honestly tell you that after watching my grandson in Panama, I would be okay if I died tonight.  I know that I was obedient in this final lap of my life.  I’ve been blessed with the people in my circle of influence.  Although I may not know the effect that I’ve had, I look to my grandfather’s legacy and I know that I will have one as well.

God is always faithful.  There is a song that has lyrics talking about how God did it once and He will do it again.  I believe that.  We see a different picture if we look back through the puzzle pieces of our lives and see how things got put together to bring us to where we are today.  There are times in our lives where we may not have been feeling it, but when we get through to this end of life, we look back and see God everywhere.  His faithfulness is woven throughout our entire life. 

Thanks once again to Ron for sharing his wonderful story. If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with others by hitting the share button.  If you are not already a subscriber, consider doing a free or paid subscription so you don’t miss any content and to support my work. Thank you!

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