our ripple effect on the lives of others

(written 9/17/2009 )

The article I wrote for the September issue of the magazine God's Word Among Us called "Ripple Effect Evangelism" continues to make waves. Sometimes we are completely unaware of how God uses us to reach others and that's a good thing. We might get a big head or get "puffed up with pride", which is spiritual death. But God lifts the curtain at times to motivate or encourage us. The story I wrote is touching people near and far. Calls are coming in to my home phone from all over the country. I ran into a local woman I know from the early days in the Word of God community who just read my piece. As she told me how encouraged she was by it, tears began to well up in her eyes. Really? I personally didn't think the story came out that well, but God is using it. Last night I got a call from a retired priest in Massachusetts. He met me only once or twice 39 years ago (when I was only 20!). Apparently, my friends and I were driving from Massachusetts to a leaders conference in Ann Arbor when our car broke down near my home town. While the car was being repaired, we were taken in overnight by members of a new sprouting prayer group. Father Darling said Mass for us and arranged a quick prayer meeting.

Unbeknownst to me, every eye in the prayer meeting was on me because I had the gift of tongues. Father told me when I began to sing in tongues, it electrified his little group. They knew I had grown up in nearby Holyoke, which gave me real credibility. I was encouraged to share how God was working in me. Never to shy to talk, I gave a rather long testimony, peppered with anecdotes of God's miraculous work in my life. I could see the crowd responding to me and quietly thanked the Lord. One old man in the back yelled out : "You're all caught up by the enthusiasm of this time, but it won't last. Just wait until life kicks you around a bit. You haven't suffered much and now go to a prestigious college." But Father Darling intervened. "That's not so Fred. Gary, tell them where you grew up in Holyoke". I was a little embarrassed because they would all know the place. "The Flats" I said. There was an audible collective gasp. That was a poor neighborhood in my home town. I told them a bit more about growing up in Holy Rosary parish. Now I had real "street cred" with the locals. How does a kid from there get to the top Catholic school in New England?

Father told me after I left my story spread like a brush fire and the prayer group grew to three times its size. Although I never visited that place again, they coninued to talk about "that kid from Holyoke" with awe and respect. Father was so blessed to find my article, he just had to call me. He and I will get together next month when I go out to visit my Mom for her birthday. We all are making an impact on the people around us. May we allow our Big Brother to make us fruitful for the kingdom.

Gary