Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - A Friend They Won't Forget - #8272

Friday, May 15, 2009

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I learned a lot from my former pastor, Bill Johnson, including a simple way to be the person who cares. He told me about passing Tom in the hall between Sunday services, and he asked the obligatory question, “How you doin’?” And Tom gave the expected answer, “Fine, Pastor.” Well, something didn’t sound right. Pastor Bill stopped in the middle of his busiest time of the week and he said, “Are you really, Tom?” Tom wasn’t doing well at all. His personal world was like caving in, and his pastor was able to be the caring person that he so desperately needed.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and Pastor Bill taught me about what he called “the power of the second question.” See, everyone asks the first, polite question about how you’re doing. It’s that follow-up question, “Really?” that takes you beyond the script to the heart.

Paul prayed for God’s special blessing on a man who was like that for him when he was abandoned in a Roman prison. He says of that man, “He often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. He searched hard for me until he found me…in many ways he helped me” (2 Timothy 1:16-18 ). See, that’s the friend or loved one who goes the extra mile, who asks the second question, who pursues us to find out where we are physically, spiritually and emotionally. You’ve got people in your family, you’ve got people at school, at work, among your friends who desperately need someone who will be God’s love for them right now. Would you ask God who needs you today and be Jesus with skin on for them?

Being the make a difference person in the lives of the people around you, well that’s what our website is designed to help you to do. I hope you will check it out today. It’s called ALifeThatMatters.org.

This radio program references: 2 Timothy 1:16-18