Tag Archive for: forgiveness

ODB: The Rules Of Disengagement
In her book Throw Out Fifty Things, Gail Blanke outlines four “Rules of Disengagement” to help people clear the clutter from their lives. The first rule states: “If it . . . weighs you down, clogs you up, or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself, throw it out, give it away, sell it, let it go, move on.”I think this Rule of Disengagement has a spiritual application too: W

ODJ: released
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Eric Smallridge calls Renee Napier “an angel”. He says this because Renee forgave him for killing her daughter Meagan in a drunk-driving accident. Although Renee’s forgiveness took a long time, Eric says he “found his eternal salvation as a result”. What’s more, Renee’s pardon encouraged her family to follow suit. Together they petitioned the courts to have Eric released from prison

ODJ: cross ‘n’ dagger
Heavy metal music, motorcycles and muscle cars. All of these things were present at the annual Cross ’n’ Dagger church service held at the Life Bridge Church. The congregation created this special service for people who might not attend a ‘regular’ Sunday morning meeting. Senior Pastor Bill Campbell said, “[People] can come in their leathers, if they’re bikers . . . . However they’re

ODB: Bouncing Back
On January 18, 2012, the longest winning streak in US intercollegiate varsity sports history—252 consecutive victories—ended when Trinity College lost a squash match to Yale. The morning after the team’s first loss in 14 years, Trinity’s coach, Paul Assaiante, received an e-mail from a friend, a prominent professional football coach, who wrote, “Well, now you get to bounce back.” Ten d

ODJ: who’s seeking whom?
Zach was a lonely guy. If there was a party, he wasn’t invited. In fact, when he walked down the city streets, he could feel the hostile glares boring into his back. But his life took a turn one special day. Clement of Alexandria, one of the church fathers, says that Zach became a very prominent Christian leader and ended up a pastor of the church in Caesarea. Yes, we are talking about Zacchaeus

ODJ: a baby’s cry
Recently one state in America instituted a law requiring each pregnant woman considering an abortion to watch a sonogram of her unborn child, receive medically accurate explanations of what she views, and listen to her baby’s heartbeat. Following the law’s passage, a blogger who supports abortion raised money and bought iPods for abortion clinics. Her purpose? To provide each patient with a wa

ODJ: backslap back?
When I lived in China I had an American friend who was radically committed to bringing the gospel to that nation. He mastered the Chinese language until even the Chinese thought he spoke exactly like them, with no foreign accent; and he aggressively shared Jesus at every opportunity. Once he was attacked by thugs, and rather than use his larger size to fight back he obeyed Jesus’ command to turn

ODB: A Letter From C. S. Lewis
In September 1961, Harvey Karlsen, a high school student in Brooklyn, New York, wrote to C. S. Lewis in England. Harvey had read Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters and asked the author, “When you wrote this book, did Satan give you any trouble, and if he did, what did you do about it?”Three weeks later, Lewis penned a reply in which he affirmed that he still had plenty of temptations

ODJ: new kind of father
Many people struggle in their daily life due to a poor relationship with their earthly fathers.I’ve counselled some who tend to humanise and view God through the lens of their negative experience. Many believers in Jesus also get tripped up in their relationship with their heavenly Father. If their earthly dads have failed them, it’s hard for them to believe that God won’t do the same.
