Only One Guarantee / Forgiveness

Update: No news on last week interview. I am predisposed to think late news is bad news but…

Praise: Being w/o a steady task to do every day leaves you a little time to think. In an uncertain time you start thinking about the basics. The basics of life on this earth.  Well I started taking inventory of what one might think of as a ‘guarantee’ or what do I consider life owes me.  We all get used to or assume there are some things and guess we call that taking things for granite. You kind of get used to them. There is no guarantee that I should get a paycheck, no guarantee that I can find a job that fits me, no guarantee I can live in my home in Geneva the rest of my life, for that matter IL or USA, no guarantee that I can live with my family 7 days a week, no guarantee I can provide all I have up to now for my wife and children.  Well the list can just go on.  But I do have a guarantee.   And this guarantee plays trump to all the nons. It a guarantee that the effective calling of my soul to participate in saving grace of faith will allow me at the end of this short life to abide in the presence of God forever and not to burn in hell for eternity. So, if one were to say count your blessings, well I only need to count one and all other pseudo certainties and non-guarantees pale and come to nothing. Praise the mighty one for his salvation.

A Thought or Two:  Everyone can be callous and we expect that from everyone to some degree. We enlarge our heart as needed to deal with it.  It’s when someone is callous to you or someone you love when you did not expect it from them that cause us to stretch our capacity to forgive. You may have thought differently of them, expected more, etc.  You may actually attempt to approach them on the hurt caused by their action or words and how it has a much broader affect than just you and how you consider what they did inappropriate.  You may have a good conversation you may not.  There is a tension of how much do I love this brother to point out his callousness or am I protecting me or the ones I love to not be hurt.  O’ the power of forgiveness and the freedom to move on.  The proverb 10:12 rings so true, “Love covers all kinds of transgressions.” Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. Honesty is the true test of any relationship.