Helpers Along the Way

I cannot begin to speak enough words of gratitude for the people from my past who encouraged me to live mine.  Like so many others my parents and extended family members stand first in this line of helpers.  Some of those who influenced my life I never personally encountered; instead, they were those whose stories touched me from the pages of books I read.  And as I began the process of venturing out from the safe shelter of home, a host of others came into my life as helpers and encouragers.    

So many of these were men and women of faith in Christ.  If the influence of people of faith were suddenly removed from my life, it is likely that my life would unravel and end up on the floor like a wad of tangled threads.  I remember a high school English teacher who pushed me into disciplines that would serve as the foundation for most everything I did as a preacher and pastor.  I remember others who dared to speak words of compassion when I fell on my face and helped me see the way forward.  To look back is to see a sea of faithful souls who offered prayers for me over the many seasons of my life.    

If paying things forward is the only way to honor these who have honored me by the investment of their life and energy in me, then I still have much to do.  I look back over the years with gratitude that I have been privileged to stand alongside of some who have shared the road of the journey with me and my prayer is that they might remember me as I have remembered helpers from my past.  One of the things of which I am sure is that even as God has placed helpers in my life along the way, He has surely placed me as a helper in the lives of others who are walking the road behind me.  I have not always been faithful to see them and to offer the words God would have given me to say had I been listening, but in those cases where I have been useful to God to help another, I am deeply grateful.