I was talking with a friend the other day about the effects that one person can have on us and in particular things that we love or value.
For example, I can trace my love of rock climbing back to a friend that was passionate about it. Even after eight years, mentioning his name or climbing brings a smile to my face. I'm sure we can all name things like that.
Unfortunately, it goes both ways. I've had two negative experiences recently.
The first is the class that I just finished on Daniel and Revelation. Normally, though some might not be interested in it, I would look forward to writing three papers on the Millennium in Rev 20, interpretation of Revelation as a whole, and Daniel's 70 "sevens" prophecy in Daniel 9. However, the professor was very strict and impersonal in his correspondence throughout the course. By the last week I was dreading writing a paper and actually nervous over whether or not I would meet the "guidelines" and remember the strict format. Honestly, I now have to force myself to study the bible! That's like forcing myself to eat lunch - something necessary for life.
The other is with something I deal with day-in and day-out in the AF and generally in life - leadership. I've been promoted in my career far enough that leadership skills are extremely valuable to me, but I'm not a great leader. Until last year, I was reading a lot of books and focusing on my abilities. However, I was also interacted with someone who "promoted" leadership a lot, but he abused the people under him and ignored or broke leadership rule after leadership rule. I now have a sick taste in my mouth over the whole subject. Opposite of rock climbing, I now immediately put a frown on when "leading" is mentioned. I have to force myself to remember that leadership is a good thing.
So I ask myself, where could I have that kind of influence? And what kind of influence am I perpetuating?
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