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A Ministry of Encouragement
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Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. (NRSV)
Listen to the radio broadcast of A Ministry of Encouragement
Download audio fileIt’s funny how God (if we’ll let Him) can use even the most mundane of situations to teach us a powerful lesson, even when we’re feeling decidedly unspiritual. That’s exactly what happened to me recently.
I was in a café/bar at Auckland airport waiting to fly home. The previous day we’d just shot 105 video episodes of Fresh in a TV studio. Needless to say, I was absolutely spent. But I’m sitting there watching this guy in the café managing his staff. What a leader!
The first thing I noticed was that he had his sleeves rolled up. The place was flat out, so he was racing around clearing and cleaning tables, a bottle of spray in his hand. Then he jumped behind the till as the queue grew longer and longer.
But busy as they were, one of his staff came up with an idea of how to rearrange the food in the glass display cabinet. So the manager stopped, cocked his head to one side, listened, nodded and replied … Great idea. Just minutes later, that young fellow was down on his knees rearranging the cabinet.
Then it struck me. This manager’s default position was to serve and to encourage his staff.
Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. (NRSV)
The serving staff should have been grumpy with the pressure they were under. But they all had this warm, friendly demeanour about them. So I grabbed the manager (Tim) and told him what a great leader he was. He had no idea.
Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.
Tim, it turns out, was operating a ministry of encouragement.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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