A reflection on forgiveness and revenge, sewing and reaping.

I'm thinking a lot about forgiveness, lately. Forgiveness and revenge. Thinking of revenge, because it is futile. Futile because it does not serve any purpose. The hurtful act that caused you to want to exact revenge, is not undone. The hurt is still there, and then you get to feel guilty and foolish, because have now become just as guilty as the party on whom you wanted revenge. And, foolish because you now realize that you've gained nothing by your act of revenge and regenerated the hard feelings that you so want to lose.

Then there is the fact that if you are like me, a follower of Christ, revenge doesn't even belong to you. It is a right belonging only to God. Romans 12:19 (NIV) says, "Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay, ' says the Lord." Christ on the cross, while they about to murder him, prayed,"Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34 - NIV). How can we dare take revenge on someone because they have hurt us in some way, and still call ourselves a follower (imitator) of Jesus?

A third point: Galatians 6:7 (NIV) says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. After I became a Christian, some people were quite hateful to me, and it made me very angry and hurt. But after I calmed down, the gentle voice of the Spirit, reminded me that I had done spiteful and hateful things to these people. Lied, cheated and deceived them. That's when I learned that when you plant bad seed, even if afterward you have given your heart to the Lord, you still have to reap the harvest of those seeds in some way. God helps you through it, but even if you plow the harvest under, there will always be some plants that will survive and grow.  Eventually, the good seeds you are planting now will grow and thrive and life will get better.

Even if you are not a Christian, you find the principle of sewing and reaping is to be found in almost every existing religion.  Food for thought and reflection, my friends.

Love you all,

Vern

Prayer for Japan

I am so concerned for the people of Japan. The pictures of the devastation are heart breaking, and I am certain people are now struggling to get food and supplies to sustain themselves.

I know that there are a lot of people volunteering there, and that many countries and aid organizations are doing their best to help the people, but the logistics of getting the food and supplies must be a nightmare.

Dear Lord, please intervene on behalf of the citizens of Japan.  Please guide us, so we know the best and most effective way that we as individuals, can do our part to help. And protect those of us who would help, from evil people who would look at this as a money-making opportunity.

I pray that you would give wisdom to the leaders of the county to know how to handle the problems with the reactors. Thank you Lord, that we can rely on you to answer our prayers. We have confidence in you, and we ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.

What happened to the Cleanest City?

Walked around my old neighborhood in Bedford while my son got a haircut this afternoon. I could not believe the condition of the sidewalks, or how dirty things had become, and only a couple of blocks from downtown!  It made me very sad.

It doesn't seem like so very long ago, that Bedford won the Cleanest City Award. I remember being very proud to live in such a town. I guess I shouldn't complain, since I don't live there anymore, but it just seems such a shame.  I had my camera with me, but I just didn't have the heart to take such a figure.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Maybe somebody will read this, and try to make things a little better.  I hope so.

Wisconsin Democrats Make Me Mad ... Again!

Just saw on CNN, that the Democrats (who finally decided they should come home) are now declaring that the fight is not over. They will now concentrate on getting the state's Republican legislators recalled.  This makes me furious!  In my opinion, they are the ones who should be recalled.  They are the ones who refused to stay on the job and do their duties. You know, the ones that they were duly elected to do?  Their cowardly departure from their state when they knew they were probably not going to be able to overcome the Republican efforts to save the state's finances (which is what the people of Wisconsin elected them to do) is blatant dereliction of duty. If their staff left work because they didn't like the way things were going, they would fire and replace them. I think the people of Wisconsin should do the same. Fire them all and replace them.

Just one man's opinion.

On the Nuclear Reactor Problem in Japan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704296604576197340900789296.html

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Supreme Court sides with churchgoers who picketed military funeral.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-protests-20110303,0,7382749.story

I have mixed feelings about the Supreme Court's decision in the Westboro Baptist Church Case. I am a firm believer in the right to free speech. I am also a firm believer in their right to believe and practice their religion. What I have a problem with, is how in the world they can be so callous about the feelings of others, and still call themselves Christians.  The word Christian, so I've been told, means like Christ.

While Christ did on occasion lash out against the hypocrisy of the church of the day, he never lashed out against individuals, nor did he speak out against the government.  He didn't judge the woman at the well because she was of a different faith. He didn't take the opportunity to pass judgement on the woman caught in the act of prostitution when the religious people wanted to stone her. He saved her from being stoned, and told her "Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more." He never spoke out against homosexuality. As far as I can tell, he never even mentioned it. (St. Paul did, but not Jesus.)

He did encourage us to be humble and meek, and everywhere he went, he showed compassion on people. He didn't picket them or do things to break the hearts of the families of dead people.  He left judgement and vengeance up to the Father. I don't who these "Christians" out in Westboro Kansas are patterning themselves after, but it's not the Jesus that I know.

I pray that these folks will see the error of their ways, and stop creating havoc in the name of the Lord.  And by the way folks, God doesn't hate sinners, just sin. His desire for us is that we all should repent and reap the benefits of belonging to him.

  2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willingthat any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.