We just sent our wonderful friends back home to Coatzacoalcos Monday afternoon. Pastor Jose and Manuela Almendra are the pastors of Life Church Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. They spent a week in our home, and it was such a blessing to have them here with us to fellowship and spend quality time together.

We met Jose and Nelly almost 17 years ago while we were missionaries planting a church in Coatza. They came to us battered, bruised and discouraged. Both of them were very active in another ministry in town, but had been victims of what I like to call "sheep beating"that so commonly occurs when ministries are not focused on being life giving. The result was burn out and almost the near failure of their marriage.

We began to love them, and invited them to just sit and recieve from God while they worked on their marriage and each one individually focused on their relationship with God. Years ago when we reached out to them we had no idea that one day they would not only lead the church, but also help raise up 4 other vibrant lifegiving churches in the surrounding areas. We only knew that they were precious people, who were hurting and that Jesus loves so much.

Jose shared a wonderful message Wednesday night called " How will I be remembered?" I recommend you get the CD if you weren't able to make it. It was a very thought provoking message about investing your life into positive words and actions. As I watched him preach the thought came to me, what an incredible man of God he is. What if we had opted to not see them through Jesus' eyes? If we had focused on the present instead of the potential that layed within each of them, we would have been tempted to get frustrated because the process was too slow. They both had too many hangups and it took several years for them to begin to bear fruit--we could have put them on the Xlist and decided they weren't worth investing our time and efforts into.

The moral of the story is: everyone has a huge potential for the kingdom of God. We must never forget that when we are dealing with people. Let's all decide to be life-givers and extensions of the arms of God that openly embrace each and every person around us. Because you never know the impact one person can have on this world and also on eternity. Find someone to reach out to today and begin to unearth the treasure that lies within them.

How will I be remembered? I want to be remembered as someone who invested their live in others.