We all have impact.....

I’ve had a word thats been going over and over in my head for a few days now. That word is Impact. This has been a necessary word for me over this season and time as I transition into new things. Things in which I have been placed into and desired for years. About 5 years to be a little more exact. As an individual who desires to see change and cause impact in this world. This word is very necessary for this day in age. Impact is a big word and has a lot of weight behind it. Webster’s Dictionary defines Impact as meaning “to press together” or “a forceful contact or collision”. Impact can be good and bad I’ve experienced. I’ve impacted communities in both ways so I feel that I can speak into both. The thing is we all have impact. Good or bad.

The questions that must be asked are: How are we impacting? Where are we impacting? And why are we impacting? All are very simple questions but necessary to review what we are about. Since we all do have impact in someway or another, I want to speak into one other question real quick. How are we impacting our community? Now before we all asses what that looks like, let me define community on my end. Community is not only about those we hang with on a regular basis (our closest friends), but also those we live around (our neighbors) and also the town/city we live in (our whistle stop). Now I want to express that its easy to pour into our close friends. Usually cause we are close to them and have common interests of some sort but what about those from the last camp; the whistle stop. 

I want to touch mainly on calling the city/town, the whistle stop. Before cars and planes there was trains and in each town or city there were stops which people called whistle stops. This was the way in and out of a city. It was the means of connection with people. Its how they got in and out. It was the means of connection with the outside world. I want to argue for our own personal whistle stops. The means on connection in our lives. I’ve forced and willing to ask a simple question in my little life as a Christian. How does my whistle stop work in my community? Why is this necessary? What makes this happen? What keeps this going? I’m not looking to answer these questions for you, but I hope and pray that you will look at how you are impacting your community; your whistle stop. 

I want to leave you with this Proverb from the Bible that says, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but the abundant of crops come by the strength of the ox.”. It will take work. It won’t be easy. It will take sacrifice, but it will be worth it! (14:4)