My grandpa passed away last week. His obituary was one of several in Wednesday’s newspaper. If he wasn’t my kin, I would have skipped right over the brief description of his life like I skip over most obituaries on most Wednesdays. There’s nothing uncommon about another octogenarian meeting his maker.

But there was something uncommon about Stanley Richard Smith. In fact, my grandpa possessed many traits that are increasingly uncommon in this day and age. As I replay the mental highlight reel of my interactions with the man, several things stand out.

My grandpa was joyful. He had a way about him that drew people in, and he would strike up conversations with complete strangers as if they were lifelong friends.

Whistling, singing and general silliness were the tools of his trade, and he was a master of his happy craft. As a boy, I looked forward to seeing him, because I always knew he was going to make me laugh. And he never disappointed.

Another aspect of my grandpa’s life that stands out was the source of his joy. If you talked to him for more than a few minutes, you would soon learn that he was a committed follower of Christ.

He wasn’t just a guy who called himself a Christian and was dragged into church once a week. He was a man who pursued a relationship with Christ – who modeled his life after the teachings of Christ.

I know he held other jobs, but ever since I can remember, he was a preacher. Long  after he retired from ministry and no longer led a congregation, he was still preaching…not through eloquent speeches but through his actions and his kindness.

Even into his 80’s, he was still visiting “old people” (his words) in hospitals and retirement homes using his gift of gab and his kind heart to bring peace to people in painful times.

He never led a mega church or authored any books. He never sought to make a name for himself or to get rich. He humbly followed the call he felt God had placed on his life. And he changed the world, one life at a time – one interaction at a time.

His influence started in his home where he modeled for his son how to be a good husband and showed his daughters the kind of man they deserved to marry. As the son of one of his daughters, I have indirectly been a student of his teachings. The life lessons he passed on have been passed on to me, and I am now striving to pass those lessons on to my children.

In this way, my grandpa’s beliefs, his words, his actions and his character will ripple through eternity passing from generation to generation. And even if our lineage were to end, his influence would not. He impacted lives in ways that he probably never knew. The kindness he shared, the joy he radiated, the biblical truths that he spoke undoubtedly changed the courses of the lives he encountered.

Most of us, like my grandpa, don’t lead high profile lives filled with adventure. For most, life is a collection of seemingly mundane, routine days. But our sphere of influence is greater than we realize. Our words and actions can, and will, change the trajectories of the lives we encounter whether we realize it or not.

When my obituary shows up in the Wednesday paper, I hope that people can skip right over it, because my life story won’t be told by a couple paragraphs of print. But like Stanley Richard Smith, I pray my story will carry on through the lives I’ve touched.