Keep your chin up

 

2 Cor 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

2 Cor 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

2 Cor 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

 

Ernest Gordon recounts an experience from his years as prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. In the Changi Prison for civilian internees at Singapore there was a man whose friend was sentenced to solitary confinement.

 

He asked himself, "What can you do to help him?" The obvious answer was "Nothing." His friend was locked in a tiny cell in a section of the prison which was so heavily guarded that none could get in.

 

One day the Methodist Bishop of Singapore saw him trying to cut another prisoner's hair. "Hello, John. I never knew you could cut hair."

 

"I can't. It's something I've never done. I'm just learning."

 

 "Why?"

 

"My friend is in solitary. He is allowed to have his hair cut once a month. So I thought I'd apply for the job."

 

Some time later the Bishop heard that John had been appointed as the barber of those in solitary. He asked him how things were working out now that he could see John once a month.

 

"Oh, I'd say fair."

 

"You can't bring him anything, I know that. But can you speak to him?"

 

 "No."

 

 "Well, what can you do?"

 

"This is what I do. While I'm snipping away at his hair, I keep saying to him, 'Please keep your chin up, keep your chin up.' The guards think this has something to do with the barbering trade, so I'm allowed to say it-and I do, over and over."

 

Every church needs encouragers. There may be times when we can't say much more than "keep your chin up," but we could say that. Will you pledge today to become an encourager? We can never tell when someone is contemplating quitting or giving up when only an encouraging word is needed to motivate him to press on to victory.

 

By Wilbur Irwin, from the newsletter of the Forest Hill Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi, February 16, 1983