Each time the barbed-wire fence closes behind me and I see the men sitting in a circle waiting for me, I begin to pray, "Please Lord, I want them to see You in me."I'm often asked to speak to inmates about being the victim of crime. On March 23, 1995, my 17-year-old...
It was a beautiful spring day for softball practice and our church team was excited about our first practice. I was the player-coach and shared their enthusiasm.As the players arrived, I suggested that they start the practice session at the same position they played...
It doesn't pay to keep records of "wrongs" or to hold grudges.The pastor of an evangelical church near Orlando, Florida, had been leading the same flock for more than twelve years. Things were running smoothly except for the fact that one member, an influential...
In his tape LIVING FAITH (Random House Audio Books, 1996), President Jimmy Carter shares that forgiveness is fundamental to his life. He says that without the knowledge that he can be forgiven, it would be impossible for him to face his own shortcomings. This even...
A story tells of a merchant in a small town who had identical twin sons. The boys worked for their father in the department store he owned and, when he died, they took over the store.Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of the brothers had...
Is it difficult for you to forgive? To let the past be past? It is for me. Nearly impossible some-times. I'm a little like the elderly Virginian woman who lived to see her beloved Richmond occupied by Union troops after the American Civil War. The matron was walking...
The story is told of a man in Massachusetts many years ago who found his neighbour's horse in the middle of his field. He was so angry about it that he took the horse to the public pound.Meeting the owner soon after this, he told him what he had done and added, "If I...