Next to a Roger Bannister

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." — 1 Thessalonians 5:11
 
Do you know who's sitting next to you?
 
In 1952, Roger Bannister came in fourth at the Olympics. Fourth. Not the podium. Not a medal. Just short of everything he had worked for. He was ready to give up on running altogether and focus entirely on becoming a physician.
 
But then he met a coach named Franz Stampfl who said something that changed everything: "I believe you are the man who is going to break the four-minute mile barrier."
 
No one had ever done it. Most believed it was physically impossible. But Stampfl believed in Bannister when Bannister had stopped believing in himself.
 
On May 6, 1954, with two teammates pacing him and a coach who refused to let him quit, Roger Bannister became the first human being to run a mile in under four minutes.
 
He didn't do it alone. He did it because someone believed in him and said so out loud.
 
"Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up" (Proverbs 12:25).
 
God may have placed you next to a Roger Bannister right now. Someone at work. Someone in your family. Someone at church who's about ready to give up on everything.
 
They don't need criticism. They don't need advice. They need someone to look them in the eye and say, "I believe in you. Don't quit."
 
You might be the only voice standing between them and surrender.