An Encouraging Word

“It was the Christian thing to do.” Those were the last words I heard her say. Her name is Bessie. That’s all I know. She said she lives somewhere in my neighborhood. She rang my door bell at 8:00 pm last week. She had my billfold in her hand and asked me if it was mine. She had found it fifteen minutes earlier in the parking lot outside CVS drug store. She opened it, saw my address on my driver’s license, and came directly to my house.

I didn’t even know my billfold was missing. I had run a quick errand minutes before to CVS and I must have dropped it getting into my car. When she handed me my billfold, I hugged her and said “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” In my billfold was over $100 in cash, two credit cards, and many other items of great value to me. She didn’t have to return it. No one would have ever known. I was a total stranger to her. She could have kept the cash, charged my credit cards, and thrown the billfold away. But she didn’t. She looked up my address, drove to my house, and returned my billfold to me.  I offered her a twenty dollar bill for her kindness but she refused. She wouldn’t take anything. As she walked away she simply said, “It was the Christian thing to do.”

It was a random act of kindness. I so want to thank her again or do something nice for her as she has done for me. The kindness she demonstrated to me means more than you can ever imagine. I hope to run into her again someday but it happened so fast that I don’t even know if I would recognize her. If you know her, please let me know. I desperately want to do something for her to let her know how grateful I am for what she did for me.    

As I think about Bessie, I am reminded that we have opportunities every single day to show kindness to others. It takes so little of our time and so little effort but it can mean more to that person than you will ever know. I want to encourage you this week to look for ways to show kindness to a stranger. I want to encourage you this week to do something for someone else without getting anything in return. Show kindness to a stranger. It’s the Christian thing to do.

Be encouraged,

Pastor Rob

An Encouraging Word

Have you ever had a dream or a goal in life that you desired with all your heart but it just wasn’t meant to be? You strived and strived but the doors kept closing in your face. You don’t know why God didn’t allow you to have it, but you do know that it wasn’t in His plans. When I was in college, my one dream was to become a successful Christian businessman. I promised God I would honor Him, I would serve Him, and I would give Him all the praise and glory if He would allow me to be a successful businessman. I had plans to be a positive witness within the business community. My motives were pure. My dream was noble. But it just wasn’t meant to be.

I graduated in accounting and quickly got a job with a CPA firm. It didn’t take long to figure out that I wasn’t a very good accountant. I was an auditor and we would go into businesses and go over records and try to find mistakes that people had made. I didn’t like that. I didn’t want to find mistakes. I wanted to encourage people and not discourage them. I had a partner named Woody who loved to “question costs” and find mistakes. He was a good auditor. He had an auditor’s mindset and I did not. After two years of trying to pursue my noble goals, God made it clear to me that I was not going to make it as an auditor. Through a series of events, I found myself using my vacation to go on a mission trip and was asked to preach a Sunday sermon at a church in Jamaica. I was a nervous wreck but agreed to give it a try. Once I finished that sermon, I knew without a doubt that God wanted me to be a preacher. I went home, quit my job as an accountant, and entered seminary to train to be a pastor.

When I look back on my life, there was nothing wrong with my desire to be a Christian businessman. That was a good goal. And although it was good, it was not God. Two simple words: Good and God.  At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between them. In reality, there is a world of difference. The difference is settling for good when God has something much better waiting for you. What I learned from my life is this: Never settle for anything less than God’s very best for your life.

As you think about your dreams and goals in life, I want to encourage you not to settle for good, but to strive for God. There are a lot of good things you can do with your life but there is one plan that God has designed specifically for you. It doesn’t matter if you are age 15 or 75, God still has a plan for you. And if you settle for good, you might possibly miss out on Gods very best for your life. I love the words of God in Jeremiah 29:11-13 when He says, “‘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 a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”

Be encouraged,

Pastor Rob