“Recognize Your Ripples of Influence”

Religion in Daily Life (c) By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. Rector, All Saints’ Church 9601 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 (215) 637-5225 Written 20 September 2001 http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

Remember the first time you threw a stone into still water? From the point of impact, widening circles of little waves called ripples moved outward. Every person exerts a ripple of influence on others. The late Robert Kennedy said: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope . . . those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walks of oppression and resistance.” In this day when the actions of some Americans toward Arab-American fellow citizens reverberate around the world, we need to recognize our ripples of influence.

In 1858, a Chicago Sunday School teacher, Ezra Kimball, influenced a shoe-store clerk, Dwight L. Moody. Moody became a Christian spokesman who preached in England in 1879. Moody influenced a YMCA worker, Wilbur Chapman, to become a spokesman for Jesus of Nazareth. Chapman influenced a professional baseball player, Billy Sunday, who became a famous evangelist. At a 1924 revival in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sunday influenced a men’s group to start an ongoing prayer group. Later, in 1934, this group invited an evangelist named Mordecai Ham to preach. Dr. Ham’s influence touched a 16-year old named Billy Graham.

In the 1970s, Captain Tom Miller radiated ripples of influence in Frankfurt, Germany. Miller assigned a young officer and his platoon of the 48th Infantry to guard an atomic cannon. On his way to his assignment, the young officer lost his 45-caliber pistol. He had to report the loss to Captain Miller. Miller told him some boys had found the gun and fired one shot before it was recovered. The scared young man later learned that the Captain had found the gun in the young officer’s tent where he had dropped it. This could have been a bad mark on the young officer’s record. The Captain, however, gave him a second chance. The young officer was Colin Powell.

These personal ripples of influence can be positive or negative. In the Book of Esther, a man named Haman, the prime minister of Persia, dictated a proclamation” “All Jews-young and old, women and children-were to be killed” (Esther 3:13). Esther used her influence to frustrate Haman’s plan and to allow the Jews to defend themselves. These positive ripples of influence go on after a good man’s death. When a corpse was hastily placed in Elisha’s tomb, “the body came into contact with Elisha’s bones [and] the man came back to life and stood up” (2 Kings 13:21). Recognize your ripples of influence.