Forgiveness

Robin and I have started helping with the youth at a friend's church here in Waco. We are pretty excited about it, good to be back in a church for a few months until we move. Anyway, as side note, it is by far the most welcoming, kind group of people I have ever been around. One thing I want us to think about is how we can become like that.

But onto to main topic. We talked about forgiveness in the youth Sunday School, and the old guy that led the group told a very sad story. He said that when his daughter was young, a teen aged boy came over to his house and molested her. He was obviously still in some pain about this, but he talked about how he thought for awhile that when the boy got out of jail, he would go and kill him.

Eventually, he ended up on his face in his bedroom, praying for that boy. He talked about how God was helping him still to learn how to forgive, and so I started thinking about forgiveness too. What is so astounding about forgiveness is not what it does for the one who is forgiven, but what it does for the one who forgives. Bitterness eats at us on the inside, it tears away our humanity, it threatens to turn us into something less than human, and in the process tempts us to think of others as less human. As a church, we must help one another to forgive. Let me encourage you now, God wants you to forgive for your sake.

Maybe not much to comment on this time around, but again, if there is something you would like to talk about go ahead and mention it and I'll come up with something. Let me tell you all some of the things I am praying for, they may or may not happen, but maybe you can join me. I am praying that God will provide us a building. That some church would be closing its doors, or some other business and that they would just want to give it to us. I am praying that we would all be ready to move at around the same time. I am praying that God will provide jobs for each of us, places we can be salt and light in the world. I am praying that we find a way to be united as God wants us to. What about you guys? As I mentioned before, we want everyone to come into town for some Saturday afternoon, we can cook dinner and just catch up, nothing official, but maybe dream a bit and encourage one another.