Finding Forgiveness Through Giving It

Recently, I was teaching on forgiveness to a church in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. At the end of my talk, I turned the service back to Pastor Juan, the pastor of this little church that met in his house. As Pastor Juan wrapped up our time together, he told his congregation that he believed the Holy Spirit was telling him that there were five people who had significant issues that they needed to forgive. There were exactly six people that came to the front in response to Pastor Juan’s challenge. Now I was really curious. Whether in English or Spanish, five and six are not the same.

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The Lifter of My Head

When the delivery guy brought the flowering plant, several delicate blossoms danced above a mound of glossy, wide leaves.

Three days later, the stems of the blossoms drooped like overcooked linguini. I’d forgotten to water the plant.

It’s not often that the florist delivery team stops at my house, so I felt especially bad that in the rush of other concerns, I’d neglected such a simple thing as water.

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Expressing Thankfulness

For months I had been doing medical work in a small tribe in Papua New Guinea. With the closest medical worker a day’s walk away, I found myself dressing sores, dispensing aspirin, and giving medicine and injections according to a missionary doctor’s orders. It was an exhausting and overwhelming task. Before 7 a.m. every day, people waited outside my door. I’d hear the soft chatter of those waiting while I started my day.  Knowing little of the tribal language, I did my best to communicate, sticking with simple phrases.

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You Can Go Home Again

My friend Phil is a former pastor who had been forced to leave his church ten years ago because of mistakes he had made in the aftermath of his daughter’s death. Many people, if they knew of the details of his story, would say that reconciliation would be out of the question in his case. Conventional wisdom says there are certain things that are unforgivable and unrecoverable. But conventional wisdom often undervalues the power of the cross.

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Busybodies

What was your first job? Mine was at a coffee shop. I sold coffee beans and cups of coffee and cappuccinos. I loved that job. My boss was a terrific lady and I enjoyed helping people find just the right coffee for their tastes. There was always something to do, like redesigning store displays, packaging and shipping orders, or tidying up the store when we weren’t busy. At this first job I also had my first encounter with a lazy co-worker. This co-worker was certainly busy. She was busy talking and it seemed she knew everything about everyone. The Bible calls these people busybodies, and cautions us about spending too much time with them.

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