Spheres of Influence

I was watching the movie, Forrest Gump, the other day. One of the themes of this movie is how Firrest touches so many other peoples lives through so many innocuous circumstances. It got me to thinking about my own life.How many people have I met through people whom I met on a onetime encounter which led to a relationship? Think about how you meet people in your life. Of course, some of our friends are schoolmates or whatnot, but that is a choice as well, for there are many whom we go to school with that we never get to know. In fact, look ar how i have started meeting some of you at EvC through written words alone!People look at the Bible as mere words and interpretations, but the book is also about the relationships of a nation of people throughout many, many years.The same is true about life in general.EXAMPLE: Were it not for the hurricane that destroyed our house and forced us to relocate, we never would have met __________at the shelter, through whom we met___________who encouraged us to move to New York and go to college, where we joined the astronomy club and met ___________whom our daughter married and ...etc....etc...The point? Every effect in the chain was a result of the first initial encounter.This message has been edited by Phatboy, 09-05-2005 06:25 PM

I wanted everyone to think about the many people that they know and think back to how a chance encounter with one person led to several dozen other relationships and events that otherwise never would have happened! Or maybe this is just fascinating to me!

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A youth is a person who is going to carry on what you have started. He will assume control of your cities, states, and nations. He is going to take over your churches, schools, and corporations. You may adopt all the policies you please, but how they are carried out depends on him. So it might be well to pay him some attention.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Convictions are very different from intentions. Convictions are something God gives us that we have to do. Intentions are things that we ought to do, but we never follow through with them.

Hey PB,Just... I'm not a "testimonial" kind of guy... if you want an answer, you gotta ask me a question. I didn't get the sense you were asking any question, just saying "isn't it cool when..."I did the thinking. It was fascinating. Then I silently retired to read a book in bed. Maybe there's some questions you could ask to get the ball rolling? I'm not one to really elaborate on life experiences without some sort of purpose in explaining...Ben

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I don't want a large Farva, I want a goddamn liter-a-cola.

I don't know if there really are any questions to be asked. Testomials are boring for some.
I once worked at a restaurant, the Alpine Village Inn. Because of working there, I met Mark, who later married Arlene. I met Arlene only through Mark. During High School, my circle of friends stemmed largely from this restaurant. Many years later, it was Arlene that invited me to a certain church. At this church, I met several future friends, and also one day while driving to Arlenes second wedding, I met a young man who would later launch my youth ministry into the inner city by being introduced to fifteen or more young people.
A couple of years later, one of those young people got in trouble in a large murder investigation. I went to court, I was emotionally involved with the families, and it changed my life. My point is that it was the Alpine Village Inn where this all started. And the ONLY reason that I even got that job was because of another friend whom I knew.My point is that life has SO many dynamic twists and turns! People say that they are afraid to meet new people or go new places, but think about it....if ONE job when I was sixteen led me down a path and determined my life experiences so much, why then could I not go start a new job tomorrow and find a whole other path of interactions?QUIZ: How many "found" EvC through surfing the net? How many were told about it by another person?Either way, we talk to each other now...through one chance decision.

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A youth is a person who is going to carry on what you have started. He will assume control of your cities, states, and nations. He is going to take over your churches, schools, and corporations. You may adopt all the policies you please, but how they are carried out depends on him. So it might be well to pay him some attention.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Convictions are very different from intentions. Convictions are something God gives us that we have to do. Intentions are things that we ought to do, but we never follow through with them.

As an educator I have influenced many people, I can only hope it is for the better. I have occasionally bumped into former students, but I haven't tried keeping track.

Hurricane Katrina changed an entire cities path. Many of the people relocated or were relocated. Out of this tragedy, an entire new paradigm of interactions, situations, experiences good and bad and relationships formed will occur between these people and the rest of the nation. Babies will be born that never would have been. It gets back to Forrest Gump and his question:
Is life all accidental-like and we all just runnin round with no pattern?Or does there emerge a definite pattern? Is the pattern random or is it preordained?To put it another way, are auto accidents the result of
A) Chance
B) Eventual certainty
C) Individual decisions

hold hold on hold on - this seems to be mutating from "how we have touched each others in our interactions and relationships" to "hum is there a plan" - do you actually want to discuss those issues? or do you want to cut to the chase and just say "gee your house was blown down and you were mugged due to God's great purpose".If you do want to discuss those issues i'll be happy to - if this is a backdoor "oh everything happens due to God's purpose" thread I'm not really that interested.This message has been edited by CK, 08-Sep-2005 07:13 PMThis message has been edited by CK, 08-Sep-2005 07:13 PM

Fine, Charles...(you are the one that starts those type of threads anyway! I am just discussing how a relationship is never random...it is chosen.
And yet, due to the relationships in our lives, other choices come about. Without mentioning God, is there a definite purpose and destiny or is life a large chaos theory model?

Interesting question. I just finished a class that focused on cognitive anthropology and analyzing systems (including one or more individuals, and cognitive "artifacts" such as technology and natural tools), not individuals, as things capable of executing cognitive tasks. Whew... what a mouthful. The point is, in such a system, you can find that systems seem to act with a "purpose"--even though the system itself has no human-like consciousness.The point is, purpose and destiny can exist without a person being aware of it. Purpose and destiny doesn't have to emerge from intent, but it can be found by examining where one's own actions lead you.So, let's examine the behavior (and not the intent) of the person, and see if the behavior exhibits a purpose that maybe the conscious person is not even aware of. Like I said, interesting question....And I'm too tired to think about myself or re-read your talks about your own meetings, so I'll respond to this post another time to actually do that analysis. In the meantime... maybe you'll be interested to make an attempt at it yourself.Ben

And you have a point about behavior being the focus.
Many of my relationships stemmed from my desire to help troubled youth. As a result of interacting with them and their families, (through the church) I became quite close to them as a group. They were all in gangs, and I was not an authority figure to them. I was a "big brother" whom they confided in, and it was entirely my choice based on my behavior to interact with them.When Jimmy and two other young men killed a wealthy sugar daddy who was involved with Jimmys sister,(who had previously been sexually molested by her stepfather) I was almost directly involved since jimmy stayed at my house at that time AND because I knew just about everything (except anything to do with their crime until several months after the fact).Was I guilty of being an enabler by not stepping up to the plate and being a disciplinarian mentor in their lives?Were my behaviors (not intentions) indicative of an older man who sought friendships with troubled youth while avoiding as many friendships with people my own age?The judicial system ultimately judged me as an asset to these kids...but I have learned a lot from that particular group of relational interactions and I am much different these days than I used to be. I still like to be the "big brother" and help troubled youth out, yet I keep my distance a lot more than I used to. I live by myself, whereas then, two of them lived with me. Again...I question whether I enabled them to play gangsta and get in trouble
instead of drawing a line in the sand and kicking them out of my house when they started getting too tough for their own good.(But then again, this is a long and complicated story...I just had to vent!) PB

PB,Thanks for opening up, venting... that's cool. Did you see "American History X"? I don't bring it up because it has gang-related crime, I bring it up because one of the most powerful moments of the movie for me has to do in the realization of how intention and behavior diverge, and how analysis and knowledge of where your behavior is taking you is critical."Has anything you've done made your life better?"My girlfriend really drove this point home to me. I was misleading other girls via my behavior, not my intent. I couldn't see it, because I was treating Japanese women like American women. But in a different culture, my behavior was seen differently, and I had to take repsonsibility for that. I couldn't; I couldn't accept that I was responsible for doing something when my intention was so good, when I did exactly what I wanted to do.And yet, I had to learn. I am responsible for my behavior, for how my behavior is perceived. It was a hard realization. It still is.Still working on getting back to the original post...Ben