Be a Positive Influence Wherever You Are

January 28, 2026

Leadership Notes

     Where would the world be without the United States? Along with our faults and flaws - after all, we are fallen people living in a fallen world – think about how God, according to His sovereign purposes, has used the United States to be a force for good in the world. As we’ve said before, God calls us to have a positive influence on where He’s placed us. That means, because of our love for Jesus, we worship him, we love each other, and we love our community. These are all positive things that contribute positively to life around us. Some refer to this as growing where you are planted.

     With that worldview, it is never a bad thing to want to help your family and your community to thrive. It’s always a good thing to avoid drama, rabble-rousing, and ne’er-do-wellism where God has placed you. I love how John Calvin described it:

“The Lord bids each one of us in all life’s actions to look to his

calling. For he knows with what great restlessness human nature

flames, with what fickleness is borne hither and thither, how its

ambition longs to embrace various things at once. Therefore, lest

through our stupidity and rashness everything be turned topsy-

turvy, he has appointed duties for every man in his particular way

of life. And that no one may thoughtlessly transgress his limits, he

has named the various kinds of living callings. Therefore, each

individual has his own kind of living assigned to him by the Lord

as a sort of sentry post so he may not heedlessly wander about

throughout life.”

In other words, constantly daydreaming about a different life, a better line of work, or a new community will lead to a lack of productivity and instability. In other, other words, grow where you are planted. Strive to spread love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self- control, and gentleness where you are. Be a positive influence where you are.

     Here’s another observation, while not directly Biblically-based, is still profound. From the late George Carlin:

“NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN

LARGE GROUPS.”

We’ve been seeing a lot of that lately. Some of it’s fairly innocuous. But other times it has led to death and destruction. Think of different outcomes if people would adhere to the wise counsel of living joyfully and peacefully where you are. Funny how that works.

     That’s what I love about Covenant Church. We love Jesus. We love each other. And we love our community. We’re following where God is leading us to thrive in our community. Who could ask for anything more?

     I’m reading The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by John U. Bacon. There’s so much detail about the Great Lakes region and our beloved Michigan. We are so blessed to be living here. Not just the natural beauty and resources. But so many other facets of economic life, creativity, and inventiveness.

     Did you know that, in 1941, American automobile factories produced three million vehicles? That was transformed almost overnight following an infamous moment in U.S. history. Over the next four years, less than 200 vehicles were produced. Instead, Ford’s Willow Run plant alone produced one B-24 Liberator every hour, twenty-four hours a day, for the duration of the war.

     After the war, there was no region more poised to cash-in on pent-up demand for consumer goods of all kinds than the Great Lakes. Especially Michigan. Welcome to boomtown. As Bacon points out, for three decades after WWII, the Great Lakes region hummed with all the power and prestige Silicon Valley enjoys today.

     And here we are, still humming along. Still doing our level best to enjoy the lives God has given us and using that gift to leave our little corner of His world a better place. There’s no place on earth I’d rather be.

     Here’s a final thought worth remembering:

“Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with

what happens to you.”

-      Aldous Huxley

Life brings both joy and challenges, but meaning comes from our response. As Huxley suggests, growth doesn’t lie in events themselves but in the choices we make afterward. Turning experience into wisdom requires reflection, adaptations, and action. Sounds reasonable to me.

     With Much Love and Affection,

                     Richard