I am reminded frequently of the power of words spoken by another person to impact my life for either good or bad, to lift me up or tear me down, to encourage or discourage me, to make my day or totally ruin it.  If others can do that to me by their words then I can surely do that to them. Carelessness in my conversation and comments to others is probably a major weakness of mine.  I want to be much more pro-active in my conversations, that is, I have thought about and planned words that I can speak that will bring great grace into another persons life. Sometimes it is a simple statement, even funny that will make my day. A number of people visit us at JBC on weekends at our services who have heard my sermons on the radio. This past Saturday evening a couple walked in, and I greeted them and introduced myself to them. The lady responded by saying, “Your Dee Duke! Your not ugly!”. Evidently in one of my sermons that she had listened to I had referred to myself as ugly or less than handsome so she was expecting to see  a homely dude when she met me.   I am not sure why, but it struck me as very funny, and I laughed out loud and thanked her for making my day. She went on and shared how much the teaching on the Bible that I did, and that she listened to each day had changed her life. Later that evening I was replaying that event in my head thinking how enjoyable and fun the experience had been for me, and I recommitted myself to working hard at making other people’s day by what I said to them.