A blessing And I Didn't Even Know It!

Last night after the ball game Mackenzie begged and begged and wore me down until I finally gave in and went for a "last-ball-game-of-the-season-slushie" at our local Petrocan. I ended up parking outside the building and waiting while kenzie took my debit card and went in and bought a good sized slushie as a reward for her stellar season. As I waited I was looking in my rear view mirror and I watched as a 1/2 ton pick up truck without a muffler came roaring into the gas station parking lot. The boys tumbled out one by one laughing, swearing, and smoking, looking like they were looking for some mischief to get into. By that time Kenzie had made her purchase and had jumped into the passenger seat of my truck and started sucking on her straw enjoying the sugary ice. I noticed one of the boys was heading towards my truck and as he came closer I recognized him as a kid who I had worked with when I was involved in the Restorative Justice program. "Jack" (not his real name) came over to the window and said hey Mr. Nichol how's it going? He proceeded to tell me how his life had changed since his incident with the law. He had made restitution with those he wronged and in fact was friends with their two daughters. He told me he graduated from high school and that he now was working 14 hour days, 6 days a week for a paving company. He said over and over again how much he appreciated my input into his life. He said that what I had done for him had really helped him get through a rough period in his life. I was blessed by his words. I figured that I had had very little input into his life and that he really wasn't that interested in the tough work of making some serious changes to his behavior. I remembered how I had prayed that I would be able to be at least one positive male adult in this kids life. The Lord graciously answered my prayers.
I got thinking about how often that has happened to me. Many times I have been thanked by those who I really didn't think I had had that much influence on. But I was determined to bring the light of the kingdom of God into their situation and trust God that something good was going to happen even if I never got to see it. He often uses us when we are completely unaware of it. I think it will make heaven even more delightful as we bump into people whose lives were changed by having been near us.