25 Affirmations about Forgiveness!

A friend who has gone through a hard time sent me a list of things he has learned about forgiveness. Most of what follows comes from my friend, but I have rephrased a few things and added a few items of my own. This is obviously not a comprehensive statement about forgiveness—just a place to begin. What would you add to this list?

If you wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving, you will never forgive.

Without God’s grace, we will never forgive.

Forgiveness is necessary but it isn’t easy.

Forgiveness is first of all between us and God.

God does not intend that all of life should be pleasant.

Nothing gets rid of pride like adversity.

Nobody understands the art of revenge like the Lord.

There is coming a day when every dispute will be resolved. When you understand this, you are freed from feeling like you have to personally solve every issue here on this earth.

Good theology is imperative. What you think about God determines how you respond in the hard times.

God is good. If you don’t believe that, it will be next to impossible to forgive others.

God is sovereign. There are no mistakes in God’s economy, and no detail, no matter how small, goes unnoticed by Him.

God’s grace is always sufficient.

There is an old saying: "Time heals all.” That isn’t always true.

Forgiving and forgetting are not the same thing.

Nothing makes a person more aware of other people’s feelings than a broken heart.

When you have been wronged, there is nothing worse than feeling like you have been abandoned.

Forgiveness is a gift I give to someone who doesn’t deserve it. If they deserved forgiveness, they wouldn’t need it.

True forgiveness costs a great deal, but unforgiveness costs much more.

Bitterness poisons everything.

I don’t see myself the way I really am.

I am more like my enemies than I like to admit.

If I have trouble loving my enemies, I should remember that I am someone else’s enemy.

God uses our enemies to make us more like Jesus.

You are never more like Jesus than when you forgive.

We never come to the end of needing forgiveness or needing to forgive.
Dr Ray Pritchard

Hebrews 3:14 - The Builder

Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
Hebrews 3:4

Sailors’ Society launches Sea of Remembrance for Merchant Navy Day

International seafarers’ charity, the Sailors’ Society has launched its ‘Sea of Remembrance’ campaign for Merchant Navy Day on 7 September. The thought-provoking campaign attracted over 800 flag-bearing messages and donations last year. Red Ensign flags were planted at Trinity Gardens in London, in memory of lost loved ones and those currently at sea. Each of the flags displayed special messages from family members, friends and appreciative supporters.
The 2008 appeal focuses on the sacrifices made for those left behind and the story of August Wallenhaupt, a merchant sailor who served on US Flagship SS Puerto Rican in the Second World War. Wallenhaupt was the only survivor when the ship was torpedoed off Murmansk, north-west Russia, and clung to the frozen body of his dead colleague to survive. He was found three days after the ship sunk and survived in freezing conditions and storms, with friends dying around him.
The ‘Sea of Remembrance’ is a heart-warming opportunity for supporters to remember the sacrifices made by seafarers, in history, as well as the present day, who spend many months at sea away from family and loved ones.
Jan Webber, Director of Fundraising and Marketing for the Sailors’ Society, explained: “The 2007 Sea of Remembrance campaign was incredibly well supported and some of the messages displayed were very heart felt and moving. We are hoping this year’s campaign will be bigger and better than ever. Seafarers have and continue to make incredible sacrifices. These days, 95 per cent of goods brought into the UK come in by sea with many seafarers spending months at a time away from their families, often not speaking the same language as their crew members or practising the same faith."
Sailors' Society provides support through its port chaplains, who are based in over 100 ports around the world. They provide practical assistance, including telephone or internet services to seafarers, and also offer spiritual support.
Webber added: “Our iconic Red Ensign flags have already been distributed to regular supporters of the Sailors’ Society, but we encourage many others to get involved to make this one of our most successful campaigns. We feel it’s a great opportunity for people to show their appreciation."
On the web: http://www.sailors-society.org/

Curiosity almost killed the cow... or was it the grass is always greener!?

A cow had to be freed by the RSPCA after getting her head stuck in a fly-tipped washing machine drum.
The lucky cow escaped injury after her ordeal - but the animal charity warned today that fly tipping can cause animals harm.
The RSPCA was called to rescue the heifer from a field at Higher Fraddon, St Columb, Cornwall.
'It is one of the more unusual things we had had to rescue an animal from,' said RSPCA spokeswoman Jo Barr.
'Young cows are quite curious, and she probably thought there was some food inside the drum,' she added.

Octavius Winslow - Cup of Grief

Christ took your cup of grief, your cup of the curse, pressed it to his lips, drank it to its dregs, then filled it with his sweet, pardoning, sympathizing love, and gave it back to you to drink, and to drink forever!
Octavius Winslow

They must be nuts!

There were four country churches in a small Texas town: The Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church and the Catholic Church. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels.
One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.
In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.
The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creation. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.
But -- The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

Blind leading the blind

39 He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

More Christians killed in India violence

The death toll continues to rise in India’s Orissa state as a wave of violence against Christians shows no sign of stopping. Hindu mobs have damaged more than a dozen churches and homes, and destroyed a Christian orphanage in an arson attack which left one woman dead. The violence has so far left 11 dead, mainly Christians. The violence was triggered by the murder of Swami Laxamanananda Saraswati, leader of radical Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), on Saturday.
Saraswati had been leading a campaign against Christians in Kandhamal district over conversions, a longstanding source of tension between Hindus and Christians in the area. The Evangelical Fellowship of India said it had received reports that three adults and one child were killed in violence in Barakhama, one of the worst hit areas. Town authorities have set curfews and ordered police to shoot rioters on sight in 11 towns across Kandhamal, reports Reuters news agency. The violence has been condemned by Christian groups, including Gospel for Asia (GFA) which says that one of its missionaries was attacked whilst on his way to church on Sunday.
GFA said it had received reports of more than 75 separate attacks on GFA-related work in Orissa state.
The group’s president KP Yohannan condemned Saraswati’s killing, which authorities have blamed on Maoists. “We are deeply shocked and anguished to hear of the atrocities and violence meted out to the innocent Christians and churches in Orissa as a backlash of the sorrowful event and we are praying for an immediate halt to the violence, said Yohannan. GFA said that many pastors and their families have gone into hiding in forests, some without food and water.
"What is most disturbing is that these attacks seem to be well organised and orchestrated," Dr Yohannan said.
Archbishop Vincent M Concessao, President of the National United Christian Forum, has urged Christian schools and colleges to close on Friday “as a mark of our solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters and as a protest against all acts of communal violence and atrocities on the Christian community and other innocent people”.
The NUCF has also declared Sunday 7 September 2008 an official day of prayer and fasting.
Pope Benedict has also condemned the violence and the killing of the Hindu leader, saying, “While I firmly condemn every attack on human life, whose sacredness required respect by all, I express my spiritual closeness and solidarity to the brothers and sisters in the faith who are so sorely tried.”

I smell a rat!

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday. With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel ($1.28) from 1,200 riel last year.
Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kg. Officials said rats were fleeing to higher ground from flooded areas of the lower Mekong Delta, making it easier for villagers to catch them.
"Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the markets, but they keep some for their family," Ly Marong, an agriculture official, said by telephone from the Koh Thom district on the border with Vietnam. "Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us."
He estimated that Cambodia supplied more than a tonne of live rats a day to Vietnam. Rats are also eaten widely in Thailand, while a state government in eastern India this month encouraged its people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
($1 = 3,900 riel)

Team GB

Memories not as good as it used to be... or is it?

Three old ladies are sitting in a tea room, chatting about various things. One lady says, "You know, I'm getting really forgetful. This morning, I was standing at the top of the stairs, and I couldn't remember whether I had just come up or was about to go down."
The second lady says, "You think that's bad? The other day, I was sitting on the edge of my bed and I couldn't remember whether I was going to sleep or had just woken up!
The third lady smiles smugly, "Well, my memory is just as good as it's always been, knock on wood," she says as she raps on the table.

Then with a startled look on her face, she asks, "Who's there?"

J.C. Ryle - Weeds

Remember children are born with a decided bias toward evil, and therefore if you let them choose for themselves, they are certain to choose wrong. The mother cannot tell what her tender infant may grow up to be - tall or short, weak or strong, wise or foolish; he may or may not be any of these it is all uncertain. But one thing the mother can say with certainty: he will have a corrupt and sinful heart. It is natural for us to do wrong... Our hearts are like the earth on which we tread; let it alone, and it is sure to bear weeds.
J.C Ryle