This picture doesn't mean anything to anyone else but my wife and I. You might notice the tools strewn around, or me working on a tool trailer. You might take notice of three of my four children (Bobby Dale, Ruth, and Nathan) helping or hindering. Take your pick, they both apply! You might even notice that I was skinny, but you could never see what I see.
This picture was taken eighteen years ago as I prepared to move from Merced, California to Neosho, Missouri, 1500 miles away. I don't just see a picture that captures a mere second of time of my fifty years of life. I see eighteen years that grew out of that one second. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this picture was worth eighteen years.
In this picture, I see my eldest, Bobby Dale, on the church staff. He and his wife, Kelly, are making a difference in young lives. I see Naomi blogging on marriage, her husband, Ben, active in foreign mission work, as well as going school to school teaching character and personal ethics to teens. I see Nathan and his wife, Jennifer, living in Vanuatu, living in what Americans would call a substandard way of life in a foreign land, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see Ruth working in children’s church, helping to make a difference in young lives, and her husband Robert going to Bible School because he feels God’s call on his life. Through the tears in my eyes, that’s what I see in this picture. The past eighteen years came out of just a moment of time, a picture, a decision to obey God.
Our decisions are always accompanied with the passing of time and in the end, the results of the decision. Most decisions you make are like seeds that have been planted. Once a decision is made, it begins to germinate, then soon, through the course of time, the decision bears fruit. You can't change the type of fruit that comes from the decision because that was determined when the decision was made.
In my case, it's here in this picture. I couldn't possibly see what would grow out of a decision made eighteen years ago, but God could. If God directs you to make a decision, just follow. He knows what seed He has given you, therefore He knows what fruit the decision will bare even if you don't have a clue.
The decision that you made eighteen year ago, also has a positive influence on those around you as well. I would not be where I am today, if it wasn't for the decision you and your family and the positive influence you had on my life. But it also go to show that the decisions people make don't just affect them, but also others around them.
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