My friend Johnny passed away about 30 years ago, but his unique character makes him unforgettable. Johnny loved to fly. During WWII he served as a pilot, and when the war was over, he wanted nothing more than to fly for a commercial airline. Unfortunately, his was the same desire as all the others who had been flying for the Air Force and the airline jobs were filled by those who had flown the larger planes, so Johnny became a barnstormer. He would rent a small plane, land it in a field, and pretend to be repairing it. This would attract the curious, and Johnny would offer to take them up for a ride. Later, he had a long career working in customer service for one of the largest airlines.
Johnny was an unusual-looking man. He was short, with a round, bald head, and a crooked smile, However, his most noticeable characteristic is that he was nice. On more than one occasion, I had people tell me that they had met a friend of mine. When I asked who, they said, “I can’t remember his name, but he was really nice.”
“Oh, you met Johnny Reel.”
How amazing, that with so many distinguishing features, the thing that people remembered about Johnny was that he was nice. What do people remember about me?
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22