The person out there who regularly reads my blog will know that last week I posted a list of the five people who have had the greatest influence on me in my life. The purpose of this was to let them know, for a start, to thank them and to honor them. I got the idea from Michael Hyatt at Thomas Nelson Publishers. They have come up with the project as an interesting way to promote a new book that they are publishing.
The book is called The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.
The Noticer Project. The goal is to launch a worldwide movement of people who will take a few minutes to “notice” five of the most influential people in their life.
Noticing these five people can be private—just a letter or an email—or public—writing a blog post, updating your Facebook or Twitter status or joining The Noticer Project Facebook Group. Regardless, we want to encourage people to notice the people who have had the most influence in their life now, rather than waiting until a wedding, graduation, or—God forbid—a funeral. {Taken from Michael Hyatt’sblog}
This week I want to ‘notice’ five people who have maybe not been around all of my life but who are currently influencing me strongly:
1) Robert Orvis. Robert is my brother in law and lives with his wife and son in a glorified shed in our back yard. Actually, it’s not very glorified at all. It’s a shed. Robert is living a life which is teaching me a lot about financial stewardship and not giving in to this culture and what it tells us we should have or seek after. He also says some incredibly profound things. Not all the time, but often enough for me to be totally in awe of his depth. Robert should be leading our church. I have yet to understand why God gave me the job!
2) My wife. Yeah, she was in my all-time five but I’m a married man and much of my life now revolves around this wonderful woman. I cannot think of an area of my life that my wife has not profoundly influenced mental, emotional, physical or spiritual. She is my rock, my faithful companion. She supports me (and corrects me) she loves me and she has brought stability to my life in a way that I didn’t think was possible. She is an amazing woman of God.
3) Rob Vanden Bos. Rob and his family heard the call of God some years ago to become missionaries to the Philippines. After going out there for a year, they returned and sold everything. Literally everything down to their retirement accounts to fund them starting a new life in the wilds of the Philippines as full time, permanent missionaries. Rob, his wife (Chris) and their family live a lifestyle which I cannot yet even imagine. They rely on God in a way most of us could never even dream of. They work harder than most of us could live through and they do it all to serve their Lord and the people He has sent them to. Rob is my role-model. The apostle Paul told us to imitate him as he imitated Christ. Rob could tell us the same thing, but he’s way too humble.
4) John Wiley. John is amazing. Incredible. Wonderful (and he’ll hate me saying that because he’s too humble). I first heard of John through a video about what God is doing through him in his community of Raytown, MO. John is such an inspiration to me, I wish he wasn’t 2000 miles away and I wasn’t so flaky. If you ever get a chance, check out what’s going on at his church, The River Christian Fellowship, and their history. If you want to see a modern day true-life story of God moving through his faithful, you don’t need to look any further than them! John has rocked my world in a big way!
5) Michael Hyatt. Mr Hyatt is CEO of Thomas Nelson. I do not know him personally but through his blog and his tweets I am learning so much from him about what it means to be in the world but not of the world. What do I mean? Well, Mr Hyatt uses modern technology, in particular electronic communication, in a way that we can all learn from. He is a in charge of a big, big company, has many employees and an incredibly busy schedule but unlike many CEO’s who would cut themselves off from ‘the little people’, Mr Hyatt makes himself open, transparent and available. He is not a worldly CEO. He is in the world as a CEO but the way he lives and acts and communicates is DEFINITELY not of the world. I am learning (or trying to learn) a lot from him.
So over to you…. who are your five people who you want to “notice”?
Post a blog on your site or tweet or add a facebook note or Myspace or something. Hey, and why not leave a note here when you’ve done it so we can see who has been an influence in your life.
DANG! I didn’t make the list AGAIN! It was the cheese buttler post that sealed my fate, huh?
Also, I think you should spell out “in my humble opinion”, because IMHO sounds kinda bad when you’re reading through quickly. Just saying…
Oh, sorry Peter! I’ve got a case of the sillies today! I told Pete Wilson to weed n’ feed his yard.
Katdish,
I didn’t spell out IMHO because I wasn’t sure what it meant, I was just copying some cool people I knew once. 🙂
You may make a list later in the week of the ‘other kind’ of influences in my life. Tee hee hee.
I like this! I was thinking about this as I wrote mine as well. There are many that influence me in such dynamic ways.
And Katdish, you’re on the list of those under the influence… of hilarity. Wow, that was lame…so, you’re welcome!
LoL Jason
Part two…
Well then. My wife is an inspiration. She spends hours before Christ in prayer and is clothed in humility and kindness. She arises each morning and “Thanks God” she is alive. Most of all, she has a heart to serve, does not look for recognition. She simply sees what needs to be done and does it without any audience.
You Peter and those like you. There is an honesty to you, an anointing. If you could only see “you” with the force that God sees you. You would literally rise out of the dust and stand like Joshua, never to return to a lowly position defined by the world or even your own estimation during emotional crisis. Called by God with great anointing. He is patient, waiting on you, Peter. God has perfect timing. I do not expect great things from you Peter, rather from the Christ flowing through you. In it’s appointed time!
For all those Christians who sit on the outside of the inner circle that most churchews contain. The ones who are not so popular, not given to a “ministry,” and sometimes struggling terribly. Yet, they sense the total immersion of salvation is near, that being of sound mind, happy, excited. It is that lingering and unspoken hunger for Christ that we all hope and pray turns into a fire of graditude and a storm of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. A simple touch, word, or whisper from the Master and it all changes, not magic, rather the goodness of Christ Jesus!
All those Christians that want more of Christ. This hunger, this drive to see the unity of Christ in operation on a practical level, the honest response to the move of God’s Holy Spirit.
Okay, then. Praise God and keep on trucking.
Thanks for the encouragement Randy.