Last week, I had three unique encounters with different people. The first happened as I was walking through our small town, and a vehicle pulled alongside. A young man rolled down his window and asked, “Are you Garris Elkins?” I said, “Yes, I am.”

The young man told me that I had spoken in his church years ago in California. He said he had purchased one of my books and was currently reading it. We talked for about 5 minutes and then he drove away.

The next day, I was asked the same question by a woman while I was shopping in a local supermarket and a third time by another man in a different location on the same day. In just a few days, I was asked three times the same question, “Are you Garris Elkins?”.

I realized after being asked the same question in a very short time span that the Lord was creating these encounters, and He wanted to help me understand why people were asking me the same question.

As I thought back over each person who asked me, “Are you Garris Elkins?”, I reviewed the times I taught and recalled something that is present in all my teachings. Somewhere in what I teach is the content of the Lord’s words, “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” (Luke 6:27-28). This is a principle of life that the Lord taught Jan and me early on in the ministry. It’s also that Jan has written several books that speak to the power of a blessing.

When I teach or write, I don’t water down God’s word to an acceptable level for an audience to accept, which dilutes God’s truth. I try to speak God’s word plainly without apology. That has created groups of people who oppose me, and some who even hate me. Each of the people who oppose or reject me has received a blessing from me, not a curse. Some of those blessings have carried on for years, changing my heart in the process.

It’s not how well we speak or represent ourselves that catches people’s attention at a deeper level and causes them to remember us. It happens when we teach, write, or interact with people in unexpected ways, choosing to bless them and not curse them. Choosing to bless and not curse someone is what makes our lives memorable.