Pastor Appreciation

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. For us in the Youth Ministry however, it comes a little later - usually November. Our team always blesses us tremendously with beautiful words of love and affirmation and great gifts. This past Wednesday they honored Aaron and I at our weekly youth meeting. A few of them shared what we mean to them and they gave us $400! Aaron is going to buy himself a laptop for work. I'll be glad when that happens so he won't have to take mine anymore. Sorry to sound selfish, but I love my laptop!

A couple of weeks ago, our church had a guest speaker who talked about honoring others with our words. One of the things I'll remember most is how he asked a few people to stand up in front of the congregation and praise someone. At first I was thinking, "No way! He can't be serious! He wants us to say what we think about someone in front of all of these people??" Of course I didn't have the guts to do it, but I watched in amazement how one person after another stood up and affirmed someone. People were saying things to others that they thought about but never said out loud. Almost everyone was crying, applauding, and smiling ear to ear. It seemed to get easier with each person. In fact, more people began to stand up to say something. I bet if the speaker hadn't stopped it, almost everyone would have stood up even if it took all night!

Shouldn't we all be like that all of the time? It made both people feel great, even if it was a little awkward at first. It may have even made some people feel like they can keep going on in their struggles because someone noticed how much they've sacrificed and how hard they are trying. I hope to be more like that. I don't want to just think about how great someone is, I want to tell them.