Encouragement

Encouragement

Your assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him as he prepares to enter it.

Deuteronomy 1:38

Who would have thought that a red coat could have provided so much encouragement?

Back in the 1980s my sister Barbara and her husband, Jordon, went to New Delhi, India, as missionaries, and members of both of their extended families met at O’Hare International Airport to see them off. It was difficult to say good-bye; we knew we wouldn’t see the young couple for at least three years.

After we all prayed together, said our tearful good-byes, and watched Barbara and Jordon board the airplane, my husband had an idea. He proposed that all of us go stand on the top level of the parking garage, which was right next to where Barbara and Jordon’s airplane was parked. When we all got up there, somebody suggested that my sister Gail take off her bright red coat so we could wave it to get Barb and Jordon’s attention. Guess what—it worked!

My sister Barbara remembers: “There we were, sitting on the airplane, having just said our tearful good-byes, when Jordon looked across the aisle and out the window. Something red caught his eye. He nudged me when he realized that it was both of our families, saying good-bye again in a dramatic way! At that point we laughed and cried all at the same time. Waving the red coat was a deliberately silly gesture, but it was an act of encouragement that still warms my heart many years later.”

Who can we encourage in a creative way? Whose life can we brighten today?

Father,

Thanks for people you have sent into our lives to encourage us at times we needed it. Please help us to be encouraging to our families and friends today. Amen.