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A Quick Word…

Brian-Quickword

Posted: April 20th, 2012

Word!

Three separate events recently happened that have reminded me of the power of words.  I share these in hopes of encouraging you as you speak into the lives of those around you.

Intentional words spoken – I have a friend that has had a vision for at least the last two years to build something which he hopes will possibly grow into a business opportunity for him.  This friend of mine has been through several similar projects over the last 10 or so years that we have been friends.  He is someone that is trying to find his place, to find “his thing” and a way to truly make a difference.  Over the last two years, I have tried to be an encourager to him on this project…to help him work through details and overcome the challenges he has faced, careful to not judge or solve the problems, but help work through it all letting him know I supported him and believed he could accomplish the project.  This week saw his dream come to near completion.  His project has been completed and he is now fine tuning it!  He was excited to show be the parts and pieces of it before we met for lunch.  After our visit at lunch he told me how grateful he was that I believed in him when he felt like no one else did.  I’m looking forward to watching how this all plays out, but he is excited about the opportunities ahead.

Words of unknown influence – I was in a meeting last week with some other pastors and was taken aback by what one of them said to me.  This pastor, who I respect and have enjoyed getting to know during our time together over the last 2 or 3 years, turned to me…in front of everyone there…and thanked me for making his transition into the group a smooth one.  That I had helped him be a better member of our group.  WOW!  What an encouragement that was to me!  Truth is, though, I’m not sure what I said or did to have him say that to me.  It reminds me that even when I’m not “intentional” about what I say or do…I’m still “influential”…hopefully, I am being the right kind of influence.  Something that I’m not always so good at, as you will see…

Words misspoken – As all parents will attest, there are times when life gets tough…when you grow weary of all the complaining, whining, fighting, messes, the forgotten chores, the blaming on someone else, the poor choices, that children seem all too good at from time to time.  Hopefully, we, as mature, well-rounded adults don’t get caught up in the emotion and respond appropriately.  But if you are like me, sometimes you don’t.  Boy did I blow it recently!  We were having “one of those days” where nothing seemed to be right.  Nothing I could do would fix it or stop the huge boulder of “junk” from rolling down that hill!  Instead, I got caught up in it and said something to my oldest that was unfair and down right mean.  It’s like I was transformed into one of those movies where I was watching and hearing myself say these awful things.  Things that if anyone else said them to my child, I’d be all over them in a minute…but, instead it’s ME vomiting out this garbage!  Now, just for the record, I didn’t curse…but it wasn’t pretty.  I wish that I could take back everything I said.  I wish that it never would have happened.  I wish I would have been more in control of myself.  But I can’t take it back, it did happen and I wasn’t in control…so, the only thing I could do was to apologize and ask for forgiveness.  Once she calmed down and I calmed down we had a private cry and apology session.  The love of a child is amazing!  I don’t want to ever take that for granted, but she forgave me and we worked on some “cues” and “tools” to help us both in the future to do better.

Words of Reconciliation- Powerful words have been spoken when God looks at me and you and says “YOU ARE INNOCENT”.  As Dr. Wiles shared last Sunday, all our sin, our ugliness, our junk was taken on by Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and because of His Grace, because of His Love, we are reconciled to Him.  Instead of receiving our just punishment we are forgiven!  WOW! and WOW!   This is the God I serve!  This is the God I want to know more!  This is the God I want to share with others!  How about you?  Do you understand the impact of the words you speak…whether intentionally spoken, unknowingly spoken, or misspoken?  Can you grasp the magnitude of God’s words of reconciliation?  I’m trying to!  I want to!

Blessings!  See you Sunday!

Brian