10,000 Miles

I get to meet so many great people as I travel to puppet ministry festivals all over the country. One of those people is Larry Baker from Germantown, OH. Larry has been a part of his church's puppet and clown ministry for many years. He's become a familiar face at I-Fest and various other puppet festivals. The "P" on the shirt Larry is wearing in the picture to the left is for "Puppeteer," even though Larry will tell you that he's primarily on propateer for his team.

Larry is an older gentleman, though he can see he is legally blind. He can't do every job on his puppet team, but he serves with all his heart and is always anxious to learn new things.

When this clipping about Larry from The Germantown Press was brought to my attention, I just had to share it. It seems that Larry walks around the paths of Germantown every day. In January of 2002 he began keeping track of how far he was walking. When he realized he was racking up the miles he set a goal to walk 10,000 miles before his 70th birthday. Well, he met his goal, with a couple weeks to spare (Larry's birthday is next week).

Larry is one of those people who reminds me of what an impact puppet ministry can have. I'm not saying that Larry walked 10,000 miles because of the puppet team, but having known Larry I've seen how important it is to him to serve on the puppet team and the impact it's had on his life. Through his puppet team, Larry has ministered to others and the team has ministered to him. "I give God the glory for being able to do this" is what the paper quoted him as saying about his 10,000 mile achievement.

So, Larry my friend, congratulations on an awesome job! Thank you for being a friend an inspiration to me!