Friday morning, HPC Associate Pastor Geoff ‘Geoffsnook‘ Henderson (“Jee-off” to some) was approached by a young woman in a local restaurant who said that she had a word from God for him. You can read all about that here. Regardless of what one thinks of the content or the act, Geoff was impressed with this woman’s boldness (and he was impressed with the ‘result’!)
Sunday afternoon, I was meeting with a couple of guys at a local Starbucks (gathered to discuss Bryan Chapell’s Each for the Other). On the other side of the room was a young man sporting a pink shirt and a tongue ring sitting alone studying his Bible.
Eventually he rose, packed his backpack, and approached us. He was very polite and apologized for imposing and interrupting. We invited him to sit with us, but he was on his way somewhere.
At that point he looked directly at one in the group and said that he wanted to encourage him. He said that he did not know him (which he did not) but wanted to tell him that God would reveal himself to him, and that he should not give up hope, that hope would be restored. The one addressed thanked the man, and we said goodbye, and he quietly walked away.
We were amused at first, but intrigued. The one to whom this young man directly spoke, however, was moved almost to tears. Struggles in his life had led him to the place where hope was a precious commodity, and this young man’s words were of great encouragement to him.
We appreciated the fact that this man was not trying to make any claim to knowing the future (unlike Geoff’s prophetess). Rather he was speaking truth, that hope ought never to be relinquished. But like Geoff’s encounter, we were all impressed with the man’s boldness.
Was what this man did self-motivated or was he sincerely moved by the Holy Spirit? He did not say ‘God told me to tell you’, but he was clearly moved to speak and to speak a message he felt impelled to bring.
How often might another be encouraged by a word that we have learned in our time with God, but we are too shy to speak it? How often might we be moved to speak to others a word of encouragement – even people we know – and fail to do so through second guessing or fear?
Like Geoff, I’m not interested in building a culture of mini-prophets wandering the streets of Bradenton. But I would like us to not so quickly assume that others do not need to hear what we might be inclined to speak.
This young man blessed the one in our group. He blessed us all. We thank God for his boldness.
Now, what might God be trying to teach Geoff and me?
Geoffsnook
Wow Randy. Glad to hear of your experience. At the very least-and there is probably much more that we should be learning-is the importance of stepping outside of our comfort zones to speak to those that who may need encouragement. Some folks that we know need encouragement, and perhaps some folks that we don’t know who need encouragement.