Life-Changing Encounter

I got news recently that a friend is no longer limited by our human existence. He “earned his wings” as some would say.

A little more than 10 years ago I met a man who had logged more air miles than some pilots. He had frequented cultures he never mastered the language of, and changed lives here and there.

I was in a period where life was not just in a state of flux, but of “what just happened” even though a few years old. It was the kind of experience that understandably defeats many people.

I decided to stay focused, turn my attention from the people I lost to those I haven’t met. That happened in part when I was offered a chance to go somewhere I had never been.

In the fall of 2010, I was attending a church that started talking about organizing a short-term mission trip. Now, like most people who have never done such, the initial thought is not just primitive, but dangerous and setting your life clock to speed toward midnight.

The scenario couldn’t have been further from the truth overall.

Setting the stage for the event, we met a man named Bob Moore. Most people out here probably have never met him. Had you met him, one of the characteristics you will likely recall is his passion.

He had a grand-size passion for people and helping them up, helping them build the “tool box” that allows them to move themselves forward.

One of the take-aways in our first meeting was very philosophical, and life-changing. He was promoting a chance to go to another country, a country that statistically was impoverished and under dictatorial rule. It was his statement that stayed with me: “My hope is that part of you will stay with the people you meet.”

I have to say, his hope, his prayer, came true. I returned to this area four more times after my initial trip. I learned the culture, the language to an extent, and became recognized by some local shop owners.

The corner shop owner, the hotel manager, even the ice cream shop two blocks away. After a time it was like “Hey! Welcome back!”

He didn’t see roadblocks; sometimes speed bumps or obstacles, but seldom came to a full stop. He worked with churches, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs; whatever organization would take part in helping people, a community, better themselves.

I remember on one trip attending a celebration of the first running water brought to the community. It was quite humbling to see people excited by what was little more than an inch or so PVC water pipe run for a couple of miles from the nearest metro area, managed by a locked outdoor spigot.

Prior to that day, water was drawn from wells or surface sources in an area where septic systems were for the upper class.

Bob’s role in these improvements was taking his passion to people who would support water projects, including digging new wells, building churches, schools, and pastors’ homes. On one trip, he led an effort, with the help of a Rotary Club, to bring portable water filters, biosand filters, to a community.

A year later we learned the community had already seen improved health.

He thought business, but he also thought people, and Kingdom business. He wasn’t a perfect man. He was a man, a man who lived his passion for people.

He was a man who left a mark on the world and the people he met. That is how it should be. Leave your mark as a servant leader, not as someone who sees people as a digit on a profit and loss sheet.