We are so influenced by people, I know we don’t often want to admit it, but it’s true. Just think about it. If you work really hard to get in shape and drop a few pounds and no one notices, its hard to continue doing it right?! But if someone says to you, “Hey! You look skinnier, have you been losing weight?” This normally makes you feel good right?! It makes you feel like all this work is paying off.
I know that i wouldn’t be in the position i am today if it wasn’t for people encouraging me along the way. When i first started playing the guitar and singing i wasn’t very good… just ask Bobby Brooks my old youth pastor. His office was in the same building that we practiced in during the early days of Riverdale… it was Breaking Point back then… but he continues to tell the story, to this day, of how awful we sounded when we first began. But instead of getting aggravated with our horrendous sound he simply encouraged us. He didn’t lie and say we were the next big thing, he simply said, you guys are welcome to practice here as much as you want… I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it was enough to let us know that we had potential, even if deep down he didn’t think so. Then one day he started to hear something that didn’t sound so horrendous any more, and began to think that these guys actually don’t sound that bad. He then began to let us play occasionally on Wednesday nights… which eventually lead to buying a van and trailer, recording a couple Cd’s, and going out of town each weekend to play sweet and sometimes not so sweet gigs. Which then lead me to become the worship pastor at C3 church, and lead Matt to become the worship leader at the Refuge (which is the church that Bobby Brooks started), and lead Jason and Randy to lead the youth at the Refuge. And the story is still being written. All because this one guy encouraged us when most other people would’ve told us to go away and “read some books”… (inside joke from nocho libre)
Loneliness and depression are so huge in our world today because someone decided that in order to make something of yourself you have to bring everyone else down. I think that someone was Satan.
I use to ride mountain bikes a lot, and one of the things that i was taught was when i got ready to pass someone I needed to hold my breath and speed past them, that way they wouldn’t think that i was exhausted because I was hardly breathing and so that they would lose confidence in themselves. But what if i were to tell them that they can do it and encourage them to give it there all? They would probably end up beating me, but i guarantee they would come up to me afterwards and thank me for the encouragement.
Life is a race, and if you accept Jesus as your savior and your master then you are a winner. So does it matter who is the greatest at the end of the race? Or does it matter who comes up to you in heaven and says thanks for the encouragement, I wanted to give up but you wouldn’t let me and you are one of the main reasons that i am here, so thanks!
Encourage People!
