I didn’t know what a big deal Cec Murphey was when I met him back in the fall of 2002 at the Glorieta Christian Writers’ Conference. I didn’t know he was the author or ghostwriter of a zillion books… and that was before his success as coauthor of Ninety Minutes in Heaven. I didn’t know any of this, and Cec isn’t one to brag about his accomplishments. I just knew that this slight man with a sparkling smile and twinkling eyes was someone I wanted to get to know.
Cec stayed in touch in the following year, and he put me on his prayer list for a year when I was fired as Writer’s Digest editor the following summer. He’d check in periodically; “I’m praying for you! Are you all right?” We still touch base occasionally, and his e-mails, personal or part of a group note, always make me smile.
Cec’s October newsletter was about transparency, about how people comment on how open he is. He goes on to say, “… The more I know who I am, the more open I am to know and understand God at work in my life.”
Knowing Cec has helped me understand that I am who I am… sometimes loud and a bit of a bull in a china shop, sometimes overly sensitive, sometimes kind and gracious…. and that God loves me while I work at becoming more of the last. It’s all right to let the world know you’re imperfect. God doesn’t expect perfection, but it pleases him to see us progress.
