evil harden us is unwise, hurting us ourselves as well as others. It is the course of pride, presumption and selfishness. Faith, prayer, humility, patient endurance and love for God and fellow man will keep us soft. Keeping soft, we will be the recipients of God’s blessings both now and in his new world when evil will be no more.

Putting Kingdom Interests First

THE special training provided overseers of the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in a one-month course at the Watchtower Society’s Kingdom Ministry Schools has been received with keen appreciation. But for men with families to support, and at a time when employment is scarce, making arrangements to attend the school has called for strong faith.

Those who have attended have had a question to face. No, it was not a question of whether they would go to school; they knew the answer to that. But the question was, Would their secular employer be willing to let them off for a whole month or more and still have a job for them on their return? No matter what the answer, they knew that they would be doing the right thing by putting their service to God first.

Some employers, on learning that the congregation servant was to be given free training to equip him for more effective overseership, marveled at the interest shown by the organization in those who represent it. Just the thought that no charge at all was made for the training or even for room and board at the school amazed them. And what was the objective of the training? Not a commercial one; not so the overseer could make more money for some organization, nor even so he could make money for himself; but so that he could more effectively care for the spiritual needs of those in his congregation. The fact that the Watchtower Society gives the training free and the overseer is willing to give of his time to receive it has made some employers feel that it is the least they can do to give a little cooperation.

In other places of employment there has been no spontaneous encouragement. It has proved to be a test of faith for the congregation servant, but a test that he has met with Jehovah’s help.

A congregation overseer from Fort Worth, Texas, relates this experience that he had: “When I received my invitation to attend the Kingdom Ministry School at South Lansing, New York, I approached the owner of the business where I was employed and asked for a six-week leave of absence. The answer was a very definite No, and when I informed my employer that I was going anyway, he began to advertise for my replacement as a supervisor in his business organization. . . .

“The Monday before I was to leave, the owner sent interoffice memos to the sixteen department heads to contact me immediately if their business required contact with me, since I would be on leave of absence for the next six weeks.

“When I received my last pay check before leaving, I asked if I might have my vacation pay, since my family would be needing it. My employer replied, ‘Suppose I just send your wife your next pay check and we’ll save your vacation pay for this summer inasmuch as you will probably be going away again as you do every summer.’”