A Good "Blog" Word From A Friend

This afternoon I received a call from a colleague in the pastorate who serves a large church in an urban setting. He just needed to talk. As he was in his office this morning finishing up the preparations for the funeral of a church member, someone walked into his office and interrupted him to complain about something from the worship service the day before. My friend handled it with grace and tried to get back to the funeral service. When he called me, he was in his car on the way to the graveside.
It happened that my devotional this morning provided a word of encouragement and I shared it with him. It talks about two kinds of people: fire lighters, who encourage you; and fire extinguishers, who will throw cold water on you. They can rob your passion. Fire lighters focus on how to inspire but fire extinguishers would rather focus on what's wrong rather than what's right. Sadly, most of us spend more of our time dwelling on the latter rather than the former. Perhaps God's word for my friend and for us all is to focus on the people who encourage and let God handle the rest. Life is difficult enough. Don't let anyone extinguish your passion. Like Jeremiah, ask God to light your heart afire -- "His word is in my heart like a fire" (Jeremiah 20:9, NIV). Blessings, Pastor Bob
source: God's Word for You Today, May 19, 2008