Encourage One Another

[February 21, 2011]   --"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up … ." - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

While watching the running of the Boston Marathon, I was impressed with the spectators and their cheering on of the runners. Some people stayed late into the evening to make sure every runner received cheers as they crossed the finish line. That’s what we are to one another. We need one another to stand and cheer for us when our legs feel like rubber and our chest is on fire. When we would give almost anything just to be able to stop and quit, we need encouragers.

On May 24, 1965, a 13 1/2 foot boat slipped quietly out of the marina in Mass. Its destination was England. It would be the smallest boat ever to make the trip. Its name was Tinkerbelle! And its pilot was Robert Manry. He had been a copyeditor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for ten years and was bored, so he took a leave of absence to fulfill his secret dream.

Robert Manry was afraid, though not of the ocean. He was afraid of all those people who would try to talk him out of the trip. So he didn’t tell many people, just a few relatives and his wife, Virginia who was his greatest supporter and encourager.
The trip was anything but pleasant. He spent many sleepless nights trying to cross the shipping lanes without getting run down and sunk. Weeks at sea caused his food to become tasteless. Loneliness
caused him to have hallucinations. His rudder broke three times.

Storms swept him overboard, and had it not been for the rope he had tied around his waist, he would never have made it back on board. Finally, after 78 days, he sailed into Falmouth,
England.

During his many nights, he fantasized about what he would do once he arrived in England. He
expected simply to check into a hotel, eat dinner alone, and then the next morning to see if the Associated Press might be interested in his story.
But word of his approach had spread far and wide. To his amazement, three hundred vessels, with horns blasting, escorted TINKERBELLE into port. And 40,000 people stood screaming and cheering him to shore. Robert Manry became an overnight hero and his story has been told around the world. However, Robert Manry didn’t know at the time that a quiet encourager had sent the word out and because of his wife’s actions, people poured out to welcome him to England. Standing on the dock was his wife Virginia. She had refused to be critical and negative about her husband’s trip. She gave him constant encouragement, which enabled him to pursue and complete his dream!

"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." (Proverbs 12:18)

You have this power! Your speech has the power to revive us: to renew our strength, to refresh our spirit, to lift us out of depression. That’s what encouragement can do. Wouldn’t it be a shame to have such power and not use it?
 

[Ron Otto, Lincoln Christian Church]