I've got a question for you. Have you spoken truth and encouragement into any one's life lately? Has anyone spoken truth and encouragement into your life lately? Is there someone in your circle of friends and acquaintance's who does this? I'm very fortunate to know a few people like that, one of them is Patrick Voo.
Patrick is a pastor and leads a church with the worlds shortest name, "M". He is also a runner and does some acting for local theatre groups as well. God has gifted Patrick with exceptionally good people skills, so he is a great guy to talk with. Whatever the situation or topic of conversation, he often has a wise word.
I recall one Christmas several years ago my family being greatly blessed by an anonymous gift of food and Christmas presents, but in my foolish pride I really struggled to accept what we had been given. To make a long story short, it was Patrick that day who reminded me that God's grace is not earned, it's freely given. Since then he has spoken many wise words into my life, the most recent being just a few weeks ago. We happened to meet up in town at a mutual friends Chiropractic office and as we stood in the parking lot talking, Patrick mentioned that he had read my most recent blog post at the time which was the one on distractions. In it I basically said if I wasn't so distracted I'd have written a lot more blog posts, as if more is somehow better.
The nugget of wisdom I came away with that day was aim for quality not quantity. (Although Patrick put it much more eloquently than that.) As the day went on I continued to think about what he had said, and as I did a bible verse began to come into my mind, something about a word aptly spoken. So I went to the Concordance in the back of my Bible and found the verse in Proverbs chapter 25 verse 11: A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
It occurred to me, that's a beautiful word picture of what Patrick so often does, and what I and maybe all of us need to do more often.
Words are so powerful, they can injure and harm or they can encourage and bless. While thinking about all this I was reminded of a song called "Words" by the band Hawk Nelson click on the link and have a listen, it's got a great message. My hope and prayer is that our words to our spouse, our children, our friends, coworkers, strangers, even people we're not on good terms with would be aptly spoken, like apples of gold in settings of silver.
God bless you.
Brian
Patrick is a pastor and leads a church with the worlds shortest name, "M". He is also a runner and does some acting for local theatre groups as well. God has gifted Patrick with exceptionally good people skills, so he is a great guy to talk with. Whatever the situation or topic of conversation, he often has a wise word.
I recall one Christmas several years ago my family being greatly blessed by an anonymous gift of food and Christmas presents, but in my foolish pride I really struggled to accept what we had been given. To make a long story short, it was Patrick that day who reminded me that God's grace is not earned, it's freely given. Since then he has spoken many wise words into my life, the most recent being just a few weeks ago. We happened to meet up in town at a mutual friends Chiropractic office and as we stood in the parking lot talking, Patrick mentioned that he had read my most recent blog post at the time which was the one on distractions. In it I basically said if I wasn't so distracted I'd have written a lot more blog posts, as if more is somehow better.
The nugget of wisdom I came away with that day was aim for quality not quantity. (Although Patrick put it much more eloquently than that.) As the day went on I continued to think about what he had said, and as I did a bible verse began to come into my mind, something about a word aptly spoken. So I went to the Concordance in the back of my Bible and found the verse in Proverbs chapter 25 verse 11: A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
It occurred to me, that's a beautiful word picture of what Patrick so often does, and what I and maybe all of us need to do more often.
Words are so powerful, they can injure and harm or they can encourage and bless. While thinking about all this I was reminded of a song called "Words" by the band Hawk Nelson click on the link and have a listen, it's got a great message. My hope and prayer is that our words to our spouse, our children, our friends, coworkers, strangers, even people we're not on good terms with would be aptly spoken, like apples of gold in settings of silver.
God bless you.
Brian
wow brian - you offer such kind and generous praise. i'm privileged to be able to call you my friend and fellow sojourner in the faith.
ReplyDeleteJust speaking the truth my friend, thank-you for your encouragement and wisdom.
ReplyDeleteBrian