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One afternoon Rita Snowden, the noted author, walked through a church cemetery in an English village.  Coming upon a tombstone, she stopped suddenly when she read, “She was a great encourager!” What an epitaph for any of us!  Better still, what a way to live.

Everybody needs a “bleacher person,” an encourager.  Remember back to those Friday nights in the fall at the high school football games.  We would be sitting there and suddenly a voice would sing out from the bleachers, maybe your voice, and say “Hurray for Jones! Hurray for Jones!”

This bleacher person is yelling for Jones, “One, two, three, four.  Who are we going to yell for?  Jones! Jones! That’s who!”

It doesn’t really matter deep down to this bleacher person whether the game is being won or lost, though preferably won.  This bleacher person is just pulling for the people who are playing.  This bleacher person is saying, “That’s the way to go fellas.  That’s the way to go girls!  Just keep on doing it.  Good play!  Good tackle!  Good shot!  Good move!”

I repeat, all people need a bleacher person, someone to believe in them and pull for them.  Everybody needs a word of encouragement.

I hope you’ve had one or more bleacher people in your life.  I hope you’ve had some teacher, preacher, Sunday School teacher, scoutmaster, coach, friend, colleague or relative, someone who came alongside and believed in you.

I’ve been very fortunate in my life.  Oh, I’ve had my distractors and still do.  But I’ve also had a lot of other people who believed in me, and they have made the difference.

The late Dr. Hoover Rupert, the well known Methodist minister, talked of a time in his life when he was down and out snd uncertain he could go on, when an older preacher friend came along and said, “Son, just remember that God has a bigger stake in your life than you will ever know.”  That was the turning point for Hoover Rupert!

Needless to say, that can also be the turning point for us.  How much all of us need a bleacher person to remind us of that.  Better still, what a way to live!  Be a bleacher person and remind others of that.“  God has a bigger stake in your life than you’ll ever know.