Influence (Part 1)

Have you ever experienced one of those moments when you knew someone was looking at you? Wasn’t it kind of weird when you looked around and discovered that your “sense” was correct? Someone was indeed looking, staring or just watching you. Now think about this: If someone watches you, then you will influence them to some degree. There’s no denying the influence that each life has on the world. In fact, sociologists tell us that even the shyest introvert will influence 10,000 people over the course of his or her lifetime. Our lives shape the people around us in profound ways. Whether we intend to or not, we affect others through our influence.

In the classic Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is given a tremendous gift: the opportunity to see what life would be like without him. As he wanders through a world that has no memory of his existence, George is dismayed by the plight of his friends and family. Devoid of his influence, their lives lack the warmth and richness he is accustomed to seeing. As George struggles to come to terms with his bleak surroundings, Clarence, his guardian angel, sums up the lesson that he hopes George will absorb from the experience.
“Strange, isn’t it? Each person’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

Let me tell you about one of those many surreal moments for me, when God reminded me of the fact
that L5 is influencing lives.

We host two events every year at Gaylord Opryland Hotel, in Nashville. We call the event Celebration and it is a three day event every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend. This past Memorial Day, a lady named Patty walked up to me at our product table during intermission and asked me, “Why is everyone here so happy?”. I
looked at her a bit puzzled because there were about 1200 people at Celebration and I just assumed most
all of them were either happy or understood the idea behind why we were happy. So I asked her to repeat
herself and again she asked, “Why is everyone here so happy?”. Patty proceeded to tell me that she and her seven year-old daughter, Hanna, were at Celebration by “accident.” She continued by saying that her husband was a physician and that he had just been transferred to a new job in North Carolina. She and Hanna were on their way from Michigan to N.C. to look for a new house. They stopped in Nashville to get
tickets to “The Grand Ole Opry” but instead were sold tickets to our Celebration event. She told me that her
husband is a Muslim and that she was not accustomed to being around so many people who seemed so happy. She again said to me, “So you see…we’re not supposed to be here. We are here by accident. This is not the Grand Ole Opry and I don’t understand why everyone around here is so happy. What is this music all about?” Then I realized, this was a divine appointment and God was giving me an incredible opportunity to tell this lady and her daughter why we were all so “happy.

So, I proceeded to tell Patty and Hanna that the reason everyone there was so happy was because we have
been forgiven of our sins and that as a result, we are guaranteed an eternity in Heaven with God. I was
able to tell her that John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That’s why we are all so happy,
I told her. At that point she instructed little Hanna to “Listen to this man.”

As I continued to tell her about Jesus and what He had done for us, she asked me, “What page in the Bible
tells us how we can know we are going to Heaven?” She knew nothing about Christianity.

Intermission was now over and it was time for us to sing, so I quickly asked Patty for her email address
and assured her I would stay in touch and answer her questions. Then, I looked over at our product table and saw a pink MP3 player that had every Legacy Five song on it we had ever recorded. I picked it up and handed it to Hanna and said, “Hey Hanna, I want you to have this. It has lots of great songs on it and it will help answer some of the questions you and your mommy have about God.” That was in May of this year.

Click here for Influence (Part Two), the rest of the story .

Remember, people are watching you. Make sure that you use your influence to show them Jesus.