I have been thinking a lot today about how truly blessed I am to have some friends who can feed me and make me stronger. I have spent all my adult life serving God as a Pastor by sharing truths of the Scripture with people who have been willing to sit and listen. It has always inspired me when I see people grow from those things mined from the Bible. It gives me joy and a real sense of purpose. Well, to tell you the truth, it is a blessing.
In addition to my wife, I have a few people with whom I share my soul on a regular basis. I was thinking just today how blessed I was to have friends like Cameron Mills, Julian Carroll, Pat Day, Bobby Scales, Mike Kenner, Martha Jane King and my cousin Alison. These are not the only ones, but there are the ones with whom I converse more regularly, especially in Biblical matters.
Just today I was listening to some audio file from Cameron speaking at a church where I used to be the Pastor and thought of all the years I have known him and what a blessing he has been in my life. Even though Cameron has risen to fame as a former UK basketball Star, he and I have been the closest of friends over the last 12 years. There have been times where I have helped him in his walk with God and there have been times that he has helped me so much when I was trying to get a grip on things, and at the time, he didn’t even know it.
As my mind raced, I thought of all the hours Julian Carroll and I have spent together on the telephone and sitting together. This is a man who rose to politics in our great state and became the Governor of Kentucky and is now serving as a State Senator. I thought of how eagerly I awaited the moment when he would begin talking about something and carry me away on the wings of eagles. What a powerful servant of God he is!
Mike Kenner recently retired as the Superintendent of the Todd County school system. Mike is old enough to be my father but for whatever reason he and I have developed a very close friendship. We have gone to UK football games together, we have prayed together, we attended the funeral of the little girl in Todd County who was murdered, Amy Dye together.
Martha Jane King and I have been friends for a couple of years now and we have spent countless hours in person and on facebook discussing our favorite television show, “The West Wing”. She is a great public servant and when she invited me up to Frankfort to give me a tour it was so evident how interested she was in making sure I was enjoying myself. She cares for people.
Bobby Scales has been a friend of mine since childhood. He probably came into my life back in the first grade. We played little league baseball together, we played varsity football together and graduated from high school together. He is now a professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization. He played for 10 years on various minor league teams but from 2008-2010, he started as an infielder for the Chicago Cubs. He has a beautiful wife and family and every time we talk, he tells me how beautiful my family is. Our friendship and love for one another has journeyed close to 30 years now and is still growing. We never have a conversation that does not include something that one or the other of us has discovered. Our relationship is truly amazing and I am awed at how he feeds and nurtures me spiritually… and hopefully, I him.
My cousin Alison is my BEST friend. Since I grew up as an only child, Alison has actually taken on the role more as a big sister than as a cousin. She has such an open heart and a willingness to seek that which is deeper in truth. She blesses me.
These are key people in my life, with whom I try and surround myself. I care little what others think of them or perceive them to be. All I know is that they bless my life and I hope in some way, I bless theirs.
Have you ever considered how you might be that same kind of blessing to someone? Have you ever thought that someone might be getting a transfusion from you without you even knowing it? I can assure you that it is happening. You might know in this lifetime or you might not. It is good to know, but most of us do not. But either way, you help people.
You may or may not be able to share with them the deeper truths of God. But when you think about it, all of those deeper truths are not always something that is written and studied. When you exemplify justice and mercy, you are showing people what God is like. When you help the weak and guide the strong, you are a blessing in their lives.
They may never tell you, but it does not change the fact you altered their steps and set them on a better path. Who knows, one of these days out of the blue, they or their families might just let you know. But even if they don’t, God knows.
Give though to those who bless you in ways you might never have been if t were not for them. Let them know. In doing so, those few little words might just be the blessing in their life to help them do even more. Let others know when good is coming from their life. Let them know that they, in their faith, are bringing just a little more light into the darkness. “Encourage each other all the more as you see that day approaching”.
Just thinking about it might just be the blessing that brightens your life.
God bless and Go Cats!
Rev. Scott Murphy Murphy is the Pastor at the First Christian Church in Russellville.
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