Showing God's Love in Bad Situations

This week, so far, has probably been the hardest for me as a believer. I have always been one to look for God in all things good and bad. I have counseled many people on dealing with trials. And I finally felt that I was at the point of full reliance on God in every situation. I felt that I had obtained an understanding of true love for people of this earth. Whether they were a brother or sister in Christ, or a lost person, I have tried to deal with them in understanding of the big picture of things. But, in this, God showed me that I still have a lot of work to do.

Two days ago my wife, Jennifer, was involved in a bad automobile accident. She had spent the day with a good friend from the church. She had our three year old daughter, and our 11 month old daughter with her. On the way home, someone had crossed the yellow line in a curve. My wife swerved to miss the car, and ended up up-side down in a ditch full of water. My two little girls hung up-side down in their car-seats in the back of the vehicle. The man that ran them off the road fled the scene. My wife was in an area with barely any cell reception, and is not sure how long it was before someone saw the car in the ditch, and stopped to help. Thank God, they were okay. My two little ones did not have a scratch on them, and my wife has no cuts, scratches, or broken bones, but is pretty banged up. I am just so thankful that I was able to put them in my van and drive them all home from the hospital in relative good shape that evening.

The problem in this was my feelings toward the man that ran them off the road and did not stop. I felt feelings of anger and disdain for him. Why did he flee? Why did he leave my wife and daughters in that situation without even checking on them. I had a lot of bad things to say about that individual while I was at the scene trying to console my wife and take care of my girls. Thoughts come to my mind as to what I would do if I found out who he was. This is where I fell. I let my anger for this person to cause me to fall into sin.

Here are a few verses that come to mind when I came to the realization of my sin.

Matthew 7:12
"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Luke 6:27-33
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same."

You know, it seems pointless to let anger and hate come into your life for someone that you do not even know. Will I ever know who was responsible? Probably not. Have I forgiven him? Yes, although I have to remind myself to do so every time I see my wife in pain, or look at the wrecked vehicle. But what other alternative do I have but to forgive him. Doesn't Christ forgive me daily for my sins? He died because of mine. So what right do I have not to forgive when, as bad as it was, the outcome was minor compared to what Christ suffered? I do not know what was/is going on with that person right now, but I pray for him too when I pray for my wife.

So what have I learned from this awful account? I have learned to cherish the time I have with my loved ones. Because the fact that they can be taken away at a moments notice has become very real to me. I have learned a hard lesson about forgiving and praying for those who hurt me, whether I feel that they deserve it or not. I have learned also, that there is far more for me to learn about God's grace, love and mercy.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week!

The Encounter

I recently had an opportunity to read a book entitled "The Encounter" by Stephen Arterburn. This is a story of dealing with anger, abandonment, and ultimately forgiveness. It was an easy read (I read it in one day), and the way the plot developed kept it interesting.

Synopsis:
The book begins with the main character making a trip to his hometown in Alaska. He is on a search for his biological mother who abandoned him at age four. He has had numerous problems with his anger that have made the news and tabloids many times, being that he is the owner of a Fortune 500 company. He was involved in many bad relationships and had the tendency to become violent with his employees. He even came to the point of attempting suicide. After that incident, one of his friend's invited him to church, where he met the pastor. The pastor counseled him to help him with his issues, and suggested that he find his true mother and make peace with her. While on his search, he begins to unveil much about his birth mother. There was a lot of evidence gathered that his mother really did love him, and did not want to be apart from him. The manner in which he meets his true mother is not as he expected, and the outcome tragic. Yet in the end, he does forgive and make peace with his mother, and makes plans to spend time with her to get to know her better.

My Thoughts on the Book:
I really enjoyed the message of this book on forgiveness. It teaches us that we should forgive those who do us wrong. The main character was so angry that he did not want to forgive her, but eventually learned the value of grace and forgiveness. It reminds me a lot of a set of verses in Luke.

Luke 6:27-36
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

It is easy to forgive and treat kindly the people we know and love. But it is so much harder to do that than to someone who has hurt us. Even the lost understand the meaning of how to treat someone who loves you. But we as Christians, are set apart for the Gospel. We are in the world, but we have been called out by the one that is greater than the world, which is Christ Jesus. This means that we are going to be different, and this is one of the ways that we stand out. And it provides us with a great witness of the love of God.

The only thing about this book that I did not like, is that there is no indication of the main character getting saved anywhere. It does say that he went to a church, and that he learned to sing his mothers favorite hymn, yet no profession of salvation. I personally think that would have been a better ending.

About the author:
Stephen Arterburn is the founder and chairman of New Life Ministries—the nation’s largest faith-based broadcast, counseling and treatment ministry—and is the host of the nationally syndicated “New Life Live!” daily radio program heard on over 180 radio stations nationwide. Steve is also the founder of the Women of Faith conferences attended by over 3,000,000 women. As a best-selling author, Steve has written over 60 books, including the best selling Every Man’s series and his most recent book, "Reframe Your Life." He has been nominated for numerous writing awards and won three Gold Medallion awards for writing excellence. Steve has degrees from Baylor University and The University of North Texas as well as having obtained two honorary doctorate degrees.

This book was provided me free from the publisher by BookSneeze.com blog book reviewers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Dealing with Pride

You know, I never really thought about how much a foot injury can do for a man's heart. I know this phrase may sound weird to some of you. Biologically our foot is a long way from our heart. Sure it is connected by a series of arteries and veins that cycle blood to the foot and back, but this is not the connection that I am referring to. This past weekend, I was in the process of helping my sister move out of her house. Like always, we started with the big, heavy, and awkward items to get them packed and save the easy stuff for last. Well, on my way out the front door, I missed a step while carrying a couple of boxes in my hand. The popping sounds in my foot resonated to my ear as pain shot across my foot and up my leg. I hit the ground pretty hard, however I did not notice any pain from my landing. All I could think about was my foot. Was it broken? Was it sprained? What am I going to do if I cannot walk? I began to get angry at myself for being foolish. How could I have possibly missed that step. As many times as I went in or out of that house, why now? I also started lashing out on those around me. I would tell them that I could do things myself, and that I did not need any help. I began to understand that I couldn't and became even more upset. I was letting my pride get the best of me.

Proverbs 29:22-23
"An angry man stirs up strife,
And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
A man’s pride will bring him low,
But a humble spirit will obtain honor."

Pride can be a dangerous thing to deal with. With pride comes anger. As was I when, I did not want others to help me when I was in need. As the scripture here in proverbs reads that anger causes strife. Strife being defined as vigorous or bitter conflict, discord, or antagonism. All of this conflict leads to being easily embittered. It causes our tempers to be enraged easily. In the scripture above, we see this causes us to fall into sin. All of this because of pride. Pride is not something that we come across from God.

1John 2:16
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."

Pride is something that has to be dealt with. Proverbs 29:23 tells us that a humble spirit will obtain honor. Sometimes it is not the easiest thing to do. But we must make and effort to be humble. Because if we look at all the things in our life to try to make ourselves look worthy, it will never be good enough. We rely on the sacrifice of Christ. His death is the only thing that makes a way for us to God. Not the things that we do.

2 Corinthians 5:21
"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Will we ever experience times when our pride can get in our way? Of course we will. But what we need to do is control it. We need to work hard to keep ourselves humble. Humility is not feeling sorry for oneself, but a hidden power that we have. It gives us the ability to receive the blessing in our time of need. I don't know why I had to fall when I did. But I do know that God had a purpose for it. Everything that He does, He does to help me grow. Maybe it was for me to learn this lesson on pride. And if so, I think He got His point across to me.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless You all this week!