{"id":4688,"date":"2025-06-10T09:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4688"},"modified":"2025-06-10T09:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:11:54","slug":"vips-very-impactful-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/10\/vips-very-impactful-people\/","title":{"rendered":"VIPs Very Impactful People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Almost every film adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s novels has been a disappointment.\u00a0At least for the author.

The exception is Stand By Me, <\/em>a coming-of-age drama that was based, in part, on King\u2019s own childhood.

When director Rob Reiner privately screened the film for the novelist before its theatrical release in 1986, King had to leave the room for about 15 minutes after its conclusion just to gather himself emotionally.\u00a0He was deeply moved.

Stand By Me<\/em> is not a horror film, even though that is Stephen King\u2019s bread and butter.

It\u2019s a story about friendship.

Today we arrive at the second of Gordon MacDonald\u2019s five key relationships that routinely affect our personal energy.

Yesterday we considered the VRP, or Very Resourceful Person.\u00a0VRPs are mentors, those special human beings who \u201cpour into\u201d our lives and faithfully impart fresh vision.\u00a0MacDonald arbitrarily assigns an energy value of +3 to VRPs.\u00a0

The next category is the VIP, the Very Important or Very Impactful Person<\/strong>.\u00a0 MacDonald\u00a0suggests they boost our energy to the tune of +2.

If a VRP kindles<\/em> my vision, a VIP shares<\/em> my vision.\u00a0If a VRP is \u201cabove\u201d me, a Very Impactful Person walks beside <\/em>me.\u00a0A VIP, in other words, is a friend.\u00a0And the more we are privileged to be surrounded by friends, the more we realize what treasures they are.

Mentors may be the ultimate bestowers of energy to help us face the rigors of daily life, but friends and colleagues who share our vision aren\u2019t far behind.\u00a0

In Stand By Me<\/em>, four boys who live in the small town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959 go on a three-day hike on Labor Day weekend. Their quest is to locate the dead body of a missing boy.\u00a0 \u00a0

Gordie is a thoughtful, budding author.\u00a0Chris is a tough guy whose family members are drunks and felons.\u00a0Teddy, who is emotionally and physically scarred, is a bit unhinged.\u00a0Vern is pudgy and fearful.\u00a0

The film includes what can only be described as the most memorable pie-eating contest in cinematic history.

As they walk together, like all middle school-age boys, the four friends talk about everything.\u00a0What kind of cartoon animal is Goofy?\u00a0What if you could eat only one kind of food the rest of your life?\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s easy.\u00a0Pez.\u00a0Cherry Pez.\u00a0No doubt about it.\u201d\u00a0What is the meaning of life?\u00a0What does the future hold?

Gordie: <\/em>Do you think I\u2019m weird?
Chris: <\/em>Definitely.
Gordie: <\/em>No man, seriously.\u00a0Am I weird?
Chris: <\/em>Yeah, but so what?\u00a0Everybody\u2019s weird.

A friend is someone who can acknowledge our weirdness, yet still love us \u2013 and we\u2019re grateful for both.

As we\u2019ve noted in the past, sociologists speak of two kinds of friendships. There are Friends of the Road \u2013 those who walk with us for a season of life. That might mean a friend from grade school; a pal at summer camp; a college roommate; a neighbor from your first apartment; or a colleague from your first job.\u00a0

Friends of the Road come into our lives for a time.\u00a0Then we go our separate ways.\u00a0

Friends of the Heart, on the other hand, never really leave.\u00a0Even if we\u2019re separated by many miles and many years, Friends of the Heart can seemingly pick up right where our last conversations left off.

So which kind of friend is better?

That\u2019s easy: neither<\/em>. Sociologists agree that Friends of the Road and Friends of the Heart may be different, but both are priceless. \u00a0\u00a0

There\u2019s considerable conversation these days about the so-called \u201cfriendship crisis\u201d in America. The May 2021 American Perspectives Survey revealed that US citizens are enjoying fewer close friendships than they once did, are talking to their friends less often, and are relying less on their friends for personal support. In the same survey, 12% of adults reported having no close friends at all, up from 3% in 1990.\u00a0

That certainly seems like a crisis in the making.

What is the first thing in the Bible that God declares to be not good<\/em>?\u00a0Speaking of Adam, God says, \u201cIt is not good for people to be alone\u201d (Genesis 2:18).\u00a0

None of us is wired to go through life flying solo.\u00a0To win all by ourselves is to lose.\u00a0

Be a Very Impactful Person.\u00a0

Stand by someone else today<\/em>.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Almost every film adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s novels has been a disappointment.\u00a0At least for the author. The exception is Stand By Me, a coming-of-age drama that was based, in part, on King\u2019s own childhood. When director Rob Reiner privately screened the film for the novelist before its theatrical release in 1986,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[156],"class_list":["post-4688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-friendship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4690,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688\/revisions\/4690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}