As a speaker I find it odd what people remember. Since starting back to work in mid-August I have spoken 27 times. That doesn’t include leading meetings or study groups, or facilitating discussions, etc. Out of those 27 full-blown messages, guess what has received the most comments by far! It is a little story that I told the first weekend back at Grace, a story that I didn’t have in my sermon manuscript and that I threw in rather flippantly. It was the story about getting off at the wrong bus stop in Italy and having to walk 6 miles through blistering sun to our destination. I encouraged the kids by saying, “Kids, let’s just put one foot in front of another, and eventually, we’ll get there.”
That’s it. Simple, huh? But that is the thing people have apparently remembered best and commented on most.
Why did that story connect? I think it’s because: it showed my humanity, it recounted struggle – which we all relate to, it showed how a family functioned under pressure, and it concluded with a simple, memorable one-liner principle (ie. Put one foot in front of another and eventually you’ll get where you’re going).
I’m just glad God can take what we plan to say and sometimes what we don’t plan to say, and use it for good.
