QUOTE: The only way we can ever teach a child to say "I'm sorry" is for him to hear it from our lips first." Kevin Leman Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours (Revell)

SHE ASKED FOR MERCY Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984.
A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.
"But I don't ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy."
"But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied.
"Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for."
"Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman's son.

Dr Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day.

STANTON BEST MAN FOR JOB Dr. Dale Johnson's Sermon "How Is Your Love Life?"
A good illustration of Christlike patience is seen in the life of Abraham Lincoln. From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic, an enemy, who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton. Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was a "low cunning clown" and "the original gorilla". He said it was ridiculous for
explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla "when they could find one easily in Springfield, Illinois." Lincoln never responded to such slander; he never retaliated in the least. And when, as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton. When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, "Because he is the best man for the job."
Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin's bullet murdered the president in a theater. Lincoln's body was carried off to another room. Stanton came, and looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, "There lies the greatest ruler of men
the world has ever seen." Stanton's animosity had finally been broken. How? By Lincoln's patient, long-suffering, non-retaliatory love.

NO MORE DEBT AT BREAKFAST Greg Ratliff

Most Saturday mornings, a preacher I know goes to the same restaurant. He goes there to have breakfast, read the paper, and go over his sermon notes. The restaurant is one of those small, homey places where when the waitress brings your food, she also brings your bill. One recent Saturday morning, he ordered his breakfast as normal, read through the newspaper and sermon notes, and was ready to leave. He had accumulated quite a bit of debt with a rather large breakfast. He scooted around the empty plates, but unlike every other Saturday, he couldn’t find the bill. He shook out his newspaper, but couldn’t find it. Then he shook out his sermon notes. Nothing. So, he got up from the table and went to the counter and the waitress who had served him. He said, "Miss, I seemed to have misplaced my bill. I am sure I have accumulated quite a bit of debt this morning." She said, "No, you didn’t lose your bill. I never gave you one." "Why not?" he asked. "Because," she responded, "Someone who was here, and wanted to remain anonymous and is now gone, paid the bill for you. You have no more debt."

We all have run up a big bill with our sin. In fact, our bills are so big, we have no hope for paying them. But there is one, if you love him, who has paid the bill!

TOP 10 REASONS TO FORGIVE!
10. Alka-Seltzer already has enough of your money.
9. Turning the other cheek might become the newest dance craze.
8. It will leave your soul smelling minty-fresh!
7. Not enough seeing-eye dogs trained to take this "eye-for-an-eye" thing literally.
6. It sure beats frying in Hell.
5. Forgiveness: it's not just for heretics anymore!
4. It's cheaper than a lawyer.
3. Decrease the likelihood of ever being a guest on the Jerry Springer show.
2. Two words: It's free!
And the number one reason to give forgiveness a try:
1. Because Jesus said so!

THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN Louise Fletcher Tarkington - poem

"I wish there were some wonderful place

Called the Land of Beginning Again

Where all our mistakes, and all our heartaches

And all our selfish griefs

Could be cast like a shabby old coat at the door

And never be put on again"

QUOTE: Forgiving one’s enemies does not mean to be fainthearted, but to have a strong soul. – Italian Proverb

In The Mennonite Brethren Herald (2/19/99), Jim Holm writes: "When I was in third grade, I was condemned to live under a law--the law of near-sightedness. My eyes went bad, and today I am considered legally blind. I am not free. I am in bondage to this law. There is no escape. But one day I discovered an even greater law that can overcome the law of near-sightedness. It is called the law of corrective lenses. When I submitted myself to the law of corrective lenses, the law of near-sightedness was overcome. Did it go away? No, it is still there. But it was overpowered by a greater law, which enabled me to see. Now here is the ironic thing: You would think if I want to be free, I’d throw the glasses away. But that is not freedom. Only by submitting to the law of glasses do I become free."

Justice - When you get what you deserve
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When you get what you don't deserve

Stephen Brown tells of a new owner of a Rolls Royce whose car broke down in a remote area of France. He called the dealership. They flew a repairman in to fix his car. The next day it was running again and he was on his way. Months later, since he had never received a bill, he wrote to the company thanking them for being so responsive to his problems when his car broke down in France.

Rolls Royce wrote back, "We have no record of any Rolls Royce ever having mechanical problems."

When God forgives you, He comes and restores that which is wrong. And His love keeps no record of wrongs.

A 6-year-old was overheard reciting the Lord's Prayer at a church service, "And forgive us our trash passes as we forgive those who passed trash against us,"

WHO WOULD YOU FORGIVE Time 4/5/99 p. 58 Yankelovich Partners Inc. Survey

Would you forgive someone who:

% forgive % not forgive

Told lies about you 73 24

Stole money from you 67 31

Slapped or punched you 64 32

Held you up with a gun 42 54

Murdered someone in community 33 59

Raped you 22 73

Raped a family member 19 77

Murdered your child 15 81

APPLYING FORGIVENESS Time 4/5/99 p. 58

Robert Enright of the University of Wisconsin suggests: while (applying forgiveness) it is important to remember these distinctions:

• Forgiveness is not legal pardon.
• Forgiveness is not reconciliation. While it only takes one person to forgive, it takes two to reconcile. And in some cases the best course is never to see the offender again.
• Forgiveness is seldom simple, linear, fast or even necessarily complete. In fact anger can often remain after forgiveness (?)
• You will never truly forgive if you haven’t honestly acknowledged how wrong the person was to hurt you.

FORGIVENESS IN THE LABORATORY Time 4/5/99 p. 56

Step into a forgiveness laboratory partly funded by a $75,000 Templeton grant. At Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Charlotte van Oyen Witvliet puts electrodes on a young volunteer. In a moment he will think about a hurt that has been done him and then "actively rehearse" it for 16 seconds. At the sound of a tone, he will escalate his thoughts to "nursing a grudge" and making the offender feel horrible. Another beep will cue him to shift gears and "empathize with the offender." Finally he will imagine ways to "wish that person well." Throughout the 2 hour session, the 4 responses occur in different sequences, and Witvliet, a professor of psychology, will measure his heart rate, blood pressure, sweat and muscle tension.

So far, she has studied 70 subjects, half of them men, half women. Witvliet finds "robust" physiological differences between non-forgiving and forgiving states. Subjects’ cardiovascular systems inevitably labor when they remember the person who hurt them. But stress is "significantly greater" when they consider revenge rather than forgiveness. Witvliet suggests that we may be drawn to hold grudges "because that makes us feel like we are more in control and we are less sad." But interviews with her subjects indicate that they felt in even greater control when they tried to empathize with their offenders and enjoyed the greatest sense of power, well-being and resolution when they managed to grant forgiveness. "If you are willing to exert the effort it takes to be forgiving, there are benefits both emotionally and physically," she concludes.

YOUR FORGOT TO SAY "I LOVE YOU" Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. Prescriptions For Living

I saw a woman with breast cancer learn about the power of love. She’d grown up in an abusive, alcoholic family and felt bitterness toward her parents. When the young woman developed cancer, she decided to change her attitude and love her parents in spite of the harm they had done to her. Her mother moved into her home, and every morning as the woman left for work she’d tell her mother she loved her. The mother never answered.

One morning, after about 3 months, the daughter was late for work and rushed out of the house. Her mother went to the door. "You forgot something," she yelled.

"What?" the woman asked.

"You forgot to say I love you."

The woman and her mother embraced and cried. They healed.

When Mr. Wesley was on his voyage to Georgia with General Oglethrope, the general threatened revenge upon an offending servant, saying, "I will never forgive."

"Then I hope, sir," said Mr. Wesley, "that you never sin." The general felt the force of the rebuke, and modified his attitude towards the servant."

I heard about an elderly single woman who pre-planned her funeral. The director was intrigued by the fact she chose 6 female pallbearers. "Are you sure you want all women to carry your casket to the grave?"

"I’m positive," she responded. "If those bozos wouldn’t take me out when I was alive, I’m sure not going to let them take me out when I’m dead."

THE SCIENCE OF FORGIVENESS Time April 5/99 p. 55ff

In the past 2 years, scientists and sociologists have begun to extract forgiveness and the act of forgiving from the confines of the confessional, transforming it into the subject of quantifiable research. In one case, they have even systemized it as a 10 part "intervention" that they claim can be used to treat a number of anger related ills in a totally secular context. In short, to forgive is no longer just divine...

Just a few years ago, says Robert Enright, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin and a pioneer in the scientific study of forgiveness, most secularly inclined intellectuals "trashed it; they said ‘Only wimps forgive.’" But now, Enright says, "psychiatrists, MD’s scientists, lawyers, ministers and social workers can all be on the same page…"

Step into a forgiveness laboratory partly funded by a $75,00 Templeton grant. At Hope College in Holland, Michigan, Charlotte van Oyen Witvliet puts electrodes on a young volunteer. In a moment he will think about a hurt that has been done him and then "actively rehearse" it for 16 seconds. At the sound of a tone, he will escalate his thoughts to "nursing a grudge" and making the offender feel horrible. Another beep will cue him to shift gears and "empathize with the offender." Finally, he will imagine ways to "wish that person well." Throughout the 2 hour session, the 4 responses occur in different sequences, and Witvliet, a professor of psychology, will measure his heart rate, blood pressure, sweat and muscle tension.

So far, she has studied 70 subjects, half of them men, half women. Witvliet finds "robust" physiological differences between non-forgiving and forgiving states. Subjects’ cardiovascular systems inevitably labor when they remember the person who hurt them. But stress is "significantly greater" when they consider revenge rather than forgiveness. Witvliet suggests that we may be drawn to hold grudges "because that makes us feel like we are more in control and we are less sad." But interviews with her subjects indicate that they felt in even greater control when they tried to empathize with their offenders and enjoyed the greatest sense of power, well-being and resolution when they managed to grant forgiveness. "If you are willing to exert the effort it takes to be forgiving, there are benefits both emotionally and physically," she concludes.

WRONG WAY RIEGELS Wayne Rouse in Leadership

The story of "Wrong Way Riegels" is a familiar one, but it bears repeating. On New Year’s Day 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran 65 yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Beeny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later the Bruins had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the UCLA team.

The strange play came in the first half. At halftime the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner and put his face in his hands.

When the timekeeper came in and announced that there were 3 minutes before playing time, Coach Price looked at the team and said, "Men, the same team that played the 1^st half will start the second." The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He didn’t budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn’t move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, "Roy, didn’t you hear me?" The same team that played the 1^st half will start the 2^nd."

Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. "Coach," he said, "I can’t do it. I’ve ruined myself. I can’t face the crowd out there."

Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegel’s shoulder and said, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over."

Riegels finally get up. He went onto the field, and the fans saw him play hard and play well.

All of us have run a log way in the wrong direction. Because of the forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ, however, the game is only half over.

QUOTE: One reason God created time was so there would be a place to bury the failures of the past – James Long

THE ESSENTIAL CONFESSION Norm Langston in Leadership

In The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson, the cartoon character Calvin says to Hobbes, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I’m sorry I did it."

"Maybe you should apologize to her," Hobbes suggests.

Calvin ponders this for a moment and then replies, "I keep hoping there’s a less obvious solution."

STATISTIC: According to a Gallup Poll, the percentage of Americans who pray to forgive others is 86% while the percentage of Americans who pray for God to forgive them is 92%.

A woman was dying of aids. A priest is summoned. He attempts to comfort her, but to no avail.

"I am lost," she said. "I have ruined my life and every life around me. Now I’m going painfully to hell. There is no hope for me."

The priest saw a framed picture of a pretty girl on the dresser. "Who is this?" he asked. The woman brightened. "She is my daughter, the one beautiful thing in my life."

"And would you help her if she was in trouble, or made a mistake? Would you forgive her? Would you still love her?"

Of course I would!" cried the woman. "I would do anything for her! Why do you ask such a question?"

"Because I want you to know," said the priest, "that God has a picture of you on His dresser."

Our mother was gravely ill. My sisters and I took turns sitting at her bedside as she drifted in and out of a coma. One morning, while I sat half asleep beside her, she called to me. "Dear," she said, "do you think God forgives us our sins?" Tears came to my eyes as I bent to reassure her.

"Of course He does," I said. "Besides, what have you ever done that you need forgiveness?"

Mother closed her eyes. "That," she said, "is none of your business."

HE WHO IS HEALED - Lewis Smedes

The first and only person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiving… when we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us."

SCIENCE - THE NEW PENNY Heno Head's Simple Science Object Talks

What to do: 1} Pour a 1/2 inch of vinegar in one of two bowls.

2} In to the same bowl put in two teaspoons of salt and stir.

3} Into the other bowl put in water.

4} Place old pennies into the vinegar-salt solution. Move them around with spoon til clean.

5} Using the spoon, scoop pennies out and place them in the water (wash of vinegar)

6} Use spoon to place pennies on paper towel to dry.

7} Have a new penny to compare them (if not satisfied, try again, using more salt.)

During WWII, a California man lost his son to the Japanese. For some time, he was not only in grief, but also engulfed in bitterness and anger towards the Nips. In time, however, after talking with his preacher and other Christians, he forgave those who had taken his child's life.

Then the insurance company paid on the boy's life insurance policy - $10,000. Not only was this a fresh reminder of his boy's death, it opened a new thought for him. Taking the check in hand, the father signed it over to the Southern Baptist Missionary Society with instructions that it be used for the evangelism of the Japanese.

You've heard people say: "I have my rights" or "He took me in that business deal & I'm going to get even..." "She falsely accused me & I refuse to have anything more to do with her." Those are all "debt" statements reflecting the sentiment that we have been ripped off and that we have felt we were either owed retribution, an apology or at least the satisfaction of shutting someone off socially.

We've all felt that way. Clarence Darrow, the famed criminal lawyer noted: "Everyone is a potential murderer. I have not killed anyone - but I frequently get satisfaction out of obituary notices."

A woman wrote to Pulpit Helps to explain a miraculous lesson her family experienced. During one of their family Bible readings as New Christians, they ran across the verse, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him" (Romans 12:20 RSV).

Ours sons, 7 and 10 at the time, were especially puzzled. "Why should you feed your enemy?" they wondered. My husband and I wondered too, but the only answer John could think of to give the boys was, "We're supposed to because God says so." It never occurred to us that we would soon learn why.

Day after day John Jr. came home from school complaining about a classmate who sat behind him in 5th grade. "Bob keeps jabbing me when Miss Smith isn't looking. One of these days, when we're out on the play ground, I'm going to jab him back.

I was ready to go down to the school and jab Bob myself. Obviously the boy was a brat. Besides, why wasn't Miss Smith doing a better job with her kids? I'd better give her an oral jab, too, at the same time!"

I was till fuming over this injustice to John Jr. when his 7 year old brother spoke up: "Maybe he should feed his enemy." The 3 of us were startled.

None of us was sure about this "enemy" business. It didn't seem that an enemy would be in the 5th grade. An enemy was someone who was way off... well, somewhere.

We all looked at John. Since he was the head of the family , he should come up with the solution. But the only answer he could offer was the same one he had give before: "I guess we should because God said so."

"Well," I asked John Jr., "do you know what Bob likes to eat? If you're going to feed him, you may as well get something he likes." "Jelly beans," he almost shouted, "Bob just loves jelly beans."

So we bought a bag of jelly beans for him to take to school the next day, and decided that the next time Bob jabbed John Jr., John was simply to turn around and deposit the bag on his "enemy's" desk. We would see whether or not this enemy feeding worked.

The next afternoon, the boys rushed home from the school bus and John Jr. called ahead, "It worked, Mom! It worked." I wanted the details: "What did Bob do? What did he say?"

"He was so surprised he didn't say anything - he just took the jelly beans. But he didn't jab me the rest of the day!" In time, John Jr. and Bob became the best of friends - all because of a little bag of Jelly Beans.

Both of our sons subsequently because missionaries on foreign fields. Their way of showing friendship with any "enemies" of the faith was to invite the inhabitants of those countries into their own homes to share food with them around their own tables.

It seems "enemies" are always hungry. Maybe that's why God said to feed them.

Woman in Illinois began ministering to children from divorced families, attempting to heal their wounds and pain. One of the illustrations that she had them do was this: Take water in Mason canning jar (about 1/2 full) and explain that this water represents the substance of your life. The lady counselor had the children squirt little vials of food coloring into the water in accordance with their pain, anger & hurts.

Some would squirt in only a couple drops, others would almost violently put in as much as they could. In the end, the water was black from the spread of the food coloring.

It was black because no light could get through. What is God? Light. And He also can not penetrate a heart that is clouded with hatred, anger, and pain. What is needed is to pour out forgiveness for others so that our hearts can be once again pure and clear before God's eyes (pour in bleach - it will take about a minute for the cloudiness to clear).

Mamie Mobley's only child was brutally murdered in 1956. Her son, Emmett was visiting relatives and friends in Mississippi. Outside a general store, with boys playing games on the front porch, 11 yr. old Emmett decided to go into the store and buy some bubble gum and some candy.

As Emmett and some of the boys came out of the store, someone asked Emmett, "How'd you like the lady in the store?" Emmett whistled his approval. Someone near by heard his whistle and did not like the idea of a black boy whistling at a white woman.

It was 2:30 a.m. the next Sunday when 2 men stormed into the house where Emmett was staying and took him at gun point. Three days later they found his badly beaten body. This is the hardest thing a mother or father is ever confronted with - the murder of their child.

This tragic event would leave a mark on Mamie's life. Years after the tragedy, she was asked, "Don't you harbor any bitterness toward the 2 men?" Mamie's reply reveals the depth of her faith (she had grown up in a church that had taught her the overcoming power of God's word) : "From the very beginning that's the question that has always been raised. What they had done was not for me to punish and it was not for me to go around hugging hate to myself, because hate would destroy me. It wouldn't hurt them. I did not wish them dead. I did not wish them in jail. If I had to, I could take their 4 little children and I could raise them as if they were my own and I could have loved them.

THE POWER OF THE MIND & FORGIVENESS Charles Swindoll "Improving Your Serve"

The human mind is a fabulous computer. As a matter of fact, no one has been able to design a computer as intricate and efficient as the human mind. Consider this: your brain is capable of recording 800 memories per second for seventy-five years without ever getting tired. . . .

I have heard some persons complain that their brain is too tired to get involved in a program of Scripture memorization. I have news for them-the body can get tired, but the brain never does. A human being doesn't use more than 2 percent of his brain power, scientists tell us. And, of course, some demonstrate this fact more obviously than others. The point is, the brain is capable of an incredible amount of work and it retain everything it takes in. You never really forget anything; you just don't recall it. Everything is on permanent file in your brain.

True servants, when demonstrating genuine love, don't keep score. Webster defines forget as "to lose the remembrance of... to treat with inattention or disregard... to disregard intentionally: OVERLOOK: to cease remembering or noticing ... to fail to become mindful at the proper time." That's the thought.

WHEN IS A PARDON OPERATIVE? Alliance Witness

In the early 1800's, President Andrew Jackson issued a full pardon to George Wilson, a man sentenced to be hanged. Wilson refused it. But could he legally refuse the President's pardon? Supreme Court Justice John Marshall declared, "The value of a pardon depends upon its acceptance. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must hang. "

And Wilson was hanged.

To pardon everyone's sin, Christ shed His blood on the cross. The price was paid. But each individual must first receive this forgiveness.

KICKED POWERLINE & BLACKED OUT CITY Our Daily Bread

A young boy became excessively fearful during the great New York blackout of 1977. When his parents questioned him, he confessed that at the exact moment the lights went out he had kicked a powerline pole. As darkness engulfed the city, he thought he was to blame and would be punished.

That kind of cause-effect thinking must have triggered the disciples' question about the man who had been born blind. "Who sinned?" they asked. "This man or his parents?" Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."

DON'T TELL ME! R.Digest 11/94 p. 143

On the eve of my wedding, my mother gave me some advice regarding husbands. "Always stick up for him," she said. "Don't discuss important matters before dinner, and lastly, never tell me about your arguments."

"Why shouldn't I tell you about our arguments?" I asked.

"Because you may forgive him," she said solemnly, "but I never will."

Robert Falconer tells the story of his witnessing among destitute people in a certain city and of reading them the story of the woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her tears. While he was reading he heard a loud sob and looked up at a young, thin girl whose face was disfigured by smallpox. After he spoke a few words of encouragement to her, she said, "Will He ever come again, the One who forgave the woman? I have heard that He will come again. Will it be soon?" Falconer replied. After sobbing again uncontrollably, she said, "Sir, can't He wait a little while? My hair ain't long enough yet to wipe His feet."

The person who sees the greatness of his own forgiveness by God's love will himself in love be forgiving. He forgives in love because his heavenly Father has forgiven in love and he desire to be an imitator of His Father.

A small boy dialed "O" and asked the operator to call a number for him. He didn't speak clearly, so she couldn't understand him. After repeating it four times, he blurted out, "You operators are dumb," and slammed down the receiver. Hearing this, his mother was shocked. She called the operator and made the boy apologize. Later, when his mother left the house, the lad got on the phone again. "Is this the same operator I talked to a little while ago?" "Yes," came the reply. "Well," said the boy, "I still think you're dumb!"

FORGIVE YOURSELF - "The Ann Landers Encyclopedia A to Z" in R. Digest 10/80 p. 61

To forgive oneself in the face of a devastating experience is perhaps the most difficult of life's challenges. Most of us find it much easier to forgive others. I've received letters brimming with self-recrimination - letters that prove no punishment is so painful as the self-inflicted kind. Here are a few examples:

"I let my boyfriend go too far. Now, when he sees me, he looks the other way. I'm so ashamed of myself I could just die."

"I threw a dish towel in my mother-in-law's face. She was trying to be helpful and I lost my temper. I hate myself."

"I got caught cheating in a history exam today. All the kids know about it. I feel rotten."

I've written this advise thousands of times:

"It's done. Finished. Over. There is nothing you can do to change the past. Take heart from the knowledge that something good can come of it if it teaches you a lesson. Profit from it - then forget it."

My high school English teacher taught me the futility of rehashing the past. One day, as the students filed into her classroom, we noticed on her desk a quart bottle of milk standing in a heavy stone crock.

"This morning," she announced, "I'm going to teach you a lesson that has nothing to do with English, but it has a lot to do with life." She picked up the bottle of milk and crashed it against the inside of the stone crock. "The lesson is," she said, "don't cry over spilled milk."

Then she invited us look at the wreckage.

"I want all of you to remember this," she said. "Would any of you attempt to restore the bottle to its original form? Does it do any good to wish the bottle had not been broken? Look at this mess! You can moan about it forever, but it won't put the bottle back together again. Remember this broken bottle of milk when something happens in your life that nothing can undo."

KITES AND FORGIVENESS IN KOREA Ed Gough in "The Best of Emphasis"

The Koreans sometimes like to lose their kites. They list their troubles on paper streamers and attach them to a kite. The kite is cut loose when it's aloft - and people's troubles just drift away.

She was crazy. Everyone knew it because she had the habit of talking to herself in public and it was known that she believed she even talked to Jesus - and was spoken back to. A new preacher came to town and, hearing

of the crazy woman, thought that he might be able to make her face reality.

One day, as he saw her walking down the street he spoke to her and eventually got around to asking, "I hear you talk to Jesus."

"Yes," she replied. "Jesus and I talk for just hours and hours."

"Would you do me a favor?" the minister began. "Could you ask Him something for me?"

"Why of course," the old woman responded.

"Would you ask Jesus what the last sin was that I confessed to Him?"

"Certainly," she replied.

The next day, the preacher saw the crazy woman just down the street and so he approached her asked, "Well, did you talk to Jesus last night?"

"Why, I surely did," she squealed.

"What did He say was the last sin was that I confessed to Him?" the preacher coyly asked.

"Why, He said He didn't remember."

CORRIE TEN BOOM AND THE BELL ROPE Leadership Summer of '87 p. 48

In an article in Guideposts, Corrie Ten Boom told of not being able to forget a wrong that had been done to her. She had forgiven the person, but she kept rehashing the incident and so, couldn't sleep. Finally Corrie cried out to God for help in putting the problem to rest.

"His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran minister," Corrie wrote, "to whom I confessed my failure after two sleepless weeks.

'Up in the church tower,' he said, nodding out the window, 'is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging. First ding, then dong. Slower and slower until there's a final dong and it stops. I believe the same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive, we take our hand off the rope. But if we've been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn't be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for a while. They're just the ding dongs of the old bell slowing down.'

"And so it proved to be. There were a few more midnight reverberations, a couple of dings when the subject came up in my conversations. But the force - which was my willingness in the matter - had gone out by then. They came less and less often and at last stopped altogether. And so I discovered another secret of forgiveness: we can trust God not only above our emotions, but also above our thoughts."

LOVING ENEMIES Leadership Spring '84, p. 44

There was a Baptist minister during the American Revolution, known as Peter Miller, who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania and was a close friend of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the minister.

One day, Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Miller traveled 70 miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.

"No, Peter," General Washington said. "I cannot grant you the life of your friend."

"My friend!" exclaimed the old preacher. "He's the bitterest enemy I have."

"What?" cried Washington. "You've walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I'll grant you your pardon". And he did.

Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata - no longer an enemy but a friend.

CUT DOWN THE TREE AND FORGET IT Leadership, Fall '84, p.46

In his book, "Lee: The Last Years," Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss.

After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it."

CURE FOR BACKACHE Pulpit Helps 2/93 p.13

One day, 2 monks were walking thru the countryside. They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops. As they walked, they spied an old woman sitting at the edge of a river. She was upset because there was no bridge, and she could not get across on her own.

The 1st monk kindly offered, "We will carry you across if you would like."

"Thank you," she said gratefully, accepting their help.

So the 2 men joined hands, lifted her between them and carried her across the river. When they got to the other side, they set her down, and she went on her way.

After they had walked another mile or so, the 2nd monk began to complain. "Look at my clothes," he said. "They are filthy from carrying that woman across the river. And my back still hurts from lifting her. I an feel it getting stiff." The 1st monk just smiled and nodded his head.

A few more miles up the road, the 2nd monk griped again, "My back is hurting me so badly, and it is all because we had to carry that silly woman across the river! I cannot go any farther because of the pain."

The 1st monk looked down at his partner, now lying on the ground, moaning. "Have you wondered why I am not complaining?" he asked

"Your back hurts because you are still carrying the woman. But I set her down 5 miles ago."

RECONCILIATION HARD Charles Williams from "The Forgiveness of Sins"

Many reconciliations have broken down because both parties have come prepared to forgive and unprepared to be forgiven.

SAYING YOU'RE SORRY R.Digest 4/79 p. 56

An apology is a friendship preserver, an antidote for hatred, never a sign of weakness; it costs nothing but one's pride, always saves more than it costs, and is a device needed in every home.

BEATEN PREACHER GIVES FORGIVENESS Gary Johnson Spring '94 Revival

A true story is told of a gang of bank robbers fleeing from a bank where a teller had been murdered and who made their way into a nearby church. Entering the office of the minister, they found him talking on the phone, and without apparent reason, they began to beat him.

They then picked up his body and began to shove it down behind the radiator that heated the office and with the butts of their rifles they kept hitting his body, stuffing it behind the radiator. Just as they were about to leave, one of the robbers took his revolver and brought it down on his head, ripping an eye from his face.

The police later caught the three still trying to escape the city. Meanwhile, the preacher was rushed to the hospital - police having been alerted to the assault by the person on the other end of the line - where doctors feverishly sought to revive his broken body. He died in surgery. As the nurse in the surgery unit was filling out the forms, she noticed that one of his fingers moved slightly. Shouting to the surgeons that the man was still alive, they worked on him - and he survived.

One year later, after several reconstructive surgeries, over 100 breaks bones had been healed, and a glass eye placed in his head - he returned to the pulpit.

When the trial date arrived for the robbers, the preacher and his wife attended. The robber who had killed the teller received the death penalty. The other two were pronounced guilty and just then the preacher and his wife asked to approach the bench. Pleading for the two robbers, they offered to take them into their home and show them the unconditional love of Christ. Their request was granted on the condition that the thieves did nothing to go against their probation.

One of the robbers soon was caught again in another crime and was sent to prison. The 2nd thief, however, tried hard to please his new guardians. After two years, he came into the minister's study, falling on his knees in tears "Would you please forgive me."

The minister responded, "I forgave you long ago."

"But you don't understand," said the man, "I was the one who took your eye. Every time I see you in the pulpit, every time I see you in the house with your wife and I see that glass eye. It is my fault that you are blind."

"I know it was you," responded the preacher, "I saw you as you struck me."

The man was broken, sobbing, and changed. Today, in California, there is a retired doctor - an ophthalmologist - a surgeon of the eye. Because someone forgave and gave them purpose.

If someone came back from the dead and forgave - how much more can the Son of God come back from the dead and forgive.

CLARA BARTON REMEMBERED TO FORGET Newsletter Newsletter Dec. 1994

Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, was reminded one day of a vicious deed that someone had done to her years before. But she acted as if she had never heard of the incident.

"Don't you remember it?" asked her friend.

"No," came Barton's reply, "I distinctly remember forgetting it."

CHURCHILL'S ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS The Romance Factor, by Alan McGinnis

At a dinner party one night Lady Churchill was seated across the table from Sir Winston, who kept making his hand walk up and down -- two fingers bent at the knuckles. The fingers appeared to be walking toward Lady Churchill. Finally, her dinner partner asked, "Why is Sir Winston looking at you so wistfully, and whatever is he doing with those knuckles on the table?"

"That's simple," she replied. "We had a mild quarrel before we left home, and he is indicating it's his fault and he's on his knees to me in abject apology."

LINCOLN THE HANDSOMEST UGLY MAN AROUND -- Historical Lights, Little

A mother once came to President Lincoln seeking the pardon of her son, under sentence of death. The result of her pleading was that Lincoln issued a pardon. After leaving him, as she passed through a corridor, she exclaimed to Thaddeus Stevens, who accompanied her, "I knew it was a lie!"

Stevens asked: "What do you refer to?"

She replied with vehemence, "Why, they told me he was an ugly-looking man, but he is the handsomest man I ever saw in my life."

A new product called "Disposable Guilt Bags" appeared in the marketplace. It consisted of a set of ten ordinary brown bags on which were printed the following instructions: "Place the bag securely over your mouth, take a deep breath and blow all your guilt out, then dispose of the bag immediately." The wonder of this is that the Associated Press reported that 2500 kits had been quickly sold at $2.50 per kit. Would that we could dispose of our guilt so easily.