Spreads Like Butter on Hot Bread - A Tribute to a Friend

" In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. - Acts 19:20

Listen to "Spreads Like Butter on Hot Bread by - Cindy Sproles We have a saying in the mountains that goes like this-"It spreads like butter on hot bread." Let's take gossip. An unkind word travels faster than email, but what about the good things? When our kids were in school there was one parent who had nothing better to do than walk the halls of the school. If something happened during the day, she'd rush home and start the phone line. Before the kids climbed off the bus, I knew what happened earlier. Some folks thrive on spreading negative things. When this email ministry began four years ago, and when God moved it into a partnered ministry with my friend Eddie this past year, the intent was to spread the Word of God. Pure and simple. We'd write the devotions that God placed on our hearts, email them, post them and then pray God would use them. Today I attended a funeral and I attended because of the influx of email I'd received, and one in particular. A fine man named Mike sent me an email to inform me one of our readers had passed away. He wrote the most beautiful tribute to her. But what impressed me about his note was his remark that, "Barbara loved the email devotions and she meant for me to love them as well. She forwarded them to me every day. And if she was sick and missed work, when she'd get back to work, she dumped eight or ten on me. She meant for me to love them, too." I smiled, because this is what the ministry was about. I never met Barbara Brown face to face. But I talked with her via mail frequently-had her on our prayer list and through her battle with cancer her positive attitude and love of life never allowed her to wallow in self-pity. "There's always someone worse off than me," she's say. And when I learned of her loss, I sat at my computer and sobbed. We'd lost this battle which we'd prayed so hard to be repaired. Not so. You see, Barbara Brown punched the forward button on her daily devotions EVERY day, and to tons of individuals just like Mike, whom she loved and wanted them to have the Word of God at their fingertips. This is not about the devotions it's about a woman who spread the Word like butter on hot bread. She oozed the flavor of Christ, and when the butter dripped down her arms, she licked it clean. That, my friends, is what it means to be a servant. Without hesitation this woman spread the love of Christ every day she took in a breath. And when her last breath was drawn, then those emails began to filter back to me. There is no more fitting tribute to a life than to have someone's first words be, "She wanted me to know Christ." We rarely know the impact we have on others, but we can rest assured we have one. The question is, what is that impression? What have we done to further the kingdom? And when we stand before the Father, look Him face to face, will He smile and say "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the gates." I never had the privilege of meeting this woman of God whose emails bubbled with the joy of the Lord-at least not on this side of eternity. But I met her friend Mike who touched my heart with his tears. And I met her sister, and her daughters who's smiles were harbored in the peace and comfort of knowing Barbara is safe in the arms of God. Spread like butter on hot bread-that was Barbara. Is it you?

I met Mike. Barbara Brown introduced us from heaven! Do you spread like butter on hot bread?