She was a door-to-door Avon lady by day and a Bible teacher by night and on weekends. Her name was Mrs. McGuffee. I will always remember her as a person who gave direction and added inspiration to my life.
This story begins when I was a nine-year-old boy attending Sunday School and Training Union at a church in Howe, Texas. One Sunday evening in class, I was doing what mischievous boys will do. I was throwing spitballs
across the room at a friend while Mrs. McGuffee was writing on the blackboard. As I was in the middle of launching one of my bombs, Mrs. McGuffee turned quickly and fixed her eyes on me and said, “Ronnie Corzine, you are going to be a preacher someday.” I laughed like Sarah when she was told she would have a child in her old age. Under my breath not understanding the proper phrase, I said, “Over your dead body.”
Well, my life continued seemingly on course. I was living fast and furious as a teenager, doing my own thing and giving no thought to my future. On my 18th birthday, I was invited to a citywide crusade. That night as the minister spoke, my heart was touched as I was faced with the reality of my life, how I was living it, and what I would do to make a difference in this world. Having forgotten what Mrs. McGuffee had spoken years earlier, I went forward at the end of the service and committed my life to do God’s will. I later discovered it was God’s will for me to be a preacher of the gospel. And here I am today.
I think it is ironic that many years later I received a call from Mrs. McGuffee’s family. They said that she had just gone to be with the Lord and that before she passed she had requested that I do her funeral service. Because of her influence and the impact she made in my life, I accepted. On that day at a church in Howe, Texas, I stood and told the above story to those gathered in her remembrance. “Today, I stand here over her dead body as a fulfillment of what she spoke over me many years ago as small boy.” I then proceeded with my eulogy. So, when people speak positive things concerning your life that you cannot explain or understand, do not despise them or their words. It could just be the Lord speaking to you through them about your future.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Ron Corzine
Fort Worth, Texas
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