I am sharing from a time over 30 years ago when I lived in the Los Angeles area. I was at a time in my life when I had not yet spread my wings a great deal but was in the midst of a great adventure on the West Coast. I was not a fan of high school and when high school ended so did my desire to seek out more education. This was partly because I didn't like being trapped in a classroom and partly because college cost more than I could ever see myself affording.
Of all my high school courses, I happened to take two years of drafting which started me on my career path. I worked as a draftsman for a while, then designer. After landing a job in California, I was given an honorary mechanical engineer title. I was in that bracket not because of any engineering education but only because I had hit the pay ceiling and was given the title so they could pay me more.
My wife worked at a computer parts company in Northridge, California,located only five minutes from where I worked. It was our routine that I come and pick her up for lunch every day. Stopping by her work so regularly gave me the opportunity to chat now and then with the owner. The fact that I drove a red Corvette and he had a Corvette was the ice breaker.
One day, he invited me into his office and closed the door. He asked me all about my work history and ended our conversation with a job offer. He had no idea what I could do for the company but hired me based on what he saw as my character and personalitly. (Try putting that on a resume today as qualifications and see how many calls you get.)
Most of the people in the company had no experience in what the company did. We had a sales guy who had been a minor league baseball player turned aspiring actor. One of the officers was an actor, one guy had worked at a Home Depot type place and on and on. The President, Larry, continually hired people based on how he read their character and their personality. Me and many of the people I worked with during those years still feel those were the best years ever, working at the best place ever.
He hired me in as the Engineering Manager. Neither one of us had any idea what that would mean to the company but he had faith we would figure it out. We did and that position brought new income streams and eventually became a real department.
He moved me from department to department and had me doing things I had never done nor had any education in. We grew from 3 million in sales to 12 million in three years. Whenever all the officers were on trips, I was placed in charge of the company basically because at one time or another, I had been the manager of most all the departments. There came a time we had grown so large that there was a need for a General Manager, which was sort of the position I had grown into. Many people expected that to be my next title but it didn't happen because I was too nice. It was the most career and personal growth I have ever experienced. By the way, the meaner guy didn't last an entire year.
Time after time, Larry moved me to manage another department. My typical concern was I had never done that job and wasn't sure I could do it. He never backed off but kept pushing me forward. I was doing things I never would have believed I could. I was doing things I would have never tried to do nor would have been given the opportunity to do if it wasn't for this one man who believed in me. He kept putting opportunity after opportunity in front of me and I lived a time of my life when I was probably the best I have ever been.
I was, as so many of us were, more or less part of their real family not just the business family. I felt almost like an adopted child. We did all kinds of things together but it was more than just doing things together. What made me feel I was part of their real family was that I had no doubt they cared about me. I had no doubt I could trust them without question and I had no doubt they wanted the very best for me. I did my very best to live up to what I had been given and cherished those years.
When we think about encouragement, my heart and mind go back to those days. Many of us are in positions where we can encourage or discourage. You have read what sincere encouragement did to me and for me. I imagine I could easily write a story on discouragement because it would simply be the opposite of what I have shared.
With a job among people who discouraged and criticized, I would have never known what I was capable of. I am still amazed at what I accomplished with them. One man, giving me a chance, encouraging me, taking an interest in me, and stretching me to be more than I had ever been changed my life forever. One man doing just the opposite to me would also have changed my life for ever but in a way that would have perhaps buried my skills and God given talent to never again see the light of day.
Each one of us may have an opportunity to give someone a chance. We may have the opportunity to trust in them and encourage them and change their life forever. We each can choose to encourage or discourage.
Another man did something like that. Christ came and saw the potential in each of us and encouraged us into a life saving relationship with Him. He encouraged. He never discouraged. He changed our lives in a way that we will never be the same. He pushed us to be more than we ever thought we could be. We became part of His real family and have all the blessings of that family. We are part of an eternal family and a heritage that can never be taken away. Why? Because He loves us and He expressed that love for us through how He invested in us. He saw so much in us that He entrusted the future of all mankind to those such as us.
If we say we love, how can we not encourage? How can we not seek to help others find their best selves? Watch for opportunities to trust and encourage and one day you may change someone's life forever.