Dear Friends,
One of the greatest gifts you can
give another person is the gift of encouragement.
One day a church member asked a
pastor, "How can you tell if a person needs encouragement."
The pastor responded, "It is
simple. If he's breathing, he needs it. If he's not, don't worry about
it."
Yes, everyone who journeys through life
needs encouragement. People need to feel special, valued, loved and supported,
and encouragement, which is 'oxygen to the soul', can do that.
When you encourage someone, you make
two people happy: the one you encourage and yourself. The encourager derives as
much joy out of encouraging someone as does the one who is received it. It's a
win-win situation.
George Adams was right when he said,
"There are high spots in all our lives, and most of them have come about
through encouragement from someone."
Can you think of someone who made a
difference in our life because they encouraged you? Maybe it was a coach,
teacher, pastor or friend. They put a 10 on your forehead and made you
feel special, and because of it you will never forget them.
Through the years, I have been
blessed to have had many such encouragers in my life.
I believe I am in the ministry today
because of Sam Tatem's encouragement. Sam was a retired pastor living in
Norfolk Va., and he read about a ministry we had established at Washington and
Lee University through the ministry of the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes. Student athletes took time to visit area children's home,
sharing our faith in Christ and seeking to encourage all whom we visited.
The story of our ministry had spread
across state and been picked up by Sam's hometown newspaper 200 miles
away. He was so impressed reading about our ministry that he took time to write
me a personal note to thank and encourage me for this ministry.
This began a letter writing
relationship in which over the next two years our friendship deepened. This
unknown pastor, who took the time to write and encourage me and those in our
ministry, became my friend and our relationship continued to deepen over the
next two years of our correspondence.
In one of the letters I received
from Sam, he encouraged me to consider the possibility of ministry upon
graduation, something which I had never considered.
Unfortunately, before my plans to
drive across the state to personally meet my friend and inform him that because
of his encouragement I had decided to enter seminary, I received word he had
passed away.
Although the two of us never personally
met, I felt like Sam was one of my very best friends, and I will forever be
thankful for his encouragement to pursue the ministry.
Benjamin Disraeli said, "The
greatest good you can do for another is not to share your riches, but to reveal
to him his own." Sam did that for me. He put a 10 on my head and always
made me feel like I was a man meant for ministry.
It is true that people will go
further than they think they can go when someone thinks they can.
All of us are like the little boy
who wanted to play ball with his dad.
"How do you want to play?"
asked the dad.
"Simple," his son said,
"I throw the ball and you say wonderful."
The Apostle Paul exhorts us to speak
words of encouragement to others. "Don't let any unwholesome words come
out of your mouth except those that encourage and build up someone in need (Eph
4:29).
The writer of Proverbs reminds us
that "Kind words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to
the bones" (Proverbs 16:24).
Don't be a tombstone encourager.
"If you know the praise is due him, now's the time to give it to him, for
he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead."
Yours in faith and friendship,
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