Pilgrim's Ponderings

In our day and age retaliation seems to be the watch word. We learn it at a very young age, when someone on the playground shoves us. The normal and instinctive reaction is a hard push back. In this kind of a retaliatory world there comes a call to forgive. But what is forgiveness? Is it forgetting the event and having it erased from memory? I don't think so because then you run the risk of being taken for granted again and again in a similar fashion and you'll never see it coming each time. Is it just not reacting and allowing the situation to blow over? Again I do not think so because there are only so many such occurrences that a man can allow to blow over before he boils over. So what is forgiveness? One of the best definitions I heard, stated that forgiveness was the giving up of your right to be angry and retaliate. It made sense, because when someone hurts me it automatically gives me a one up position where i now seem to have a right to get even or settle th...

A normal man has many abilities; but what do you call someone who has all these and even more? What do you call a man who doesn't just run but can also fly? What do you call a man who doesn't just see, but has x-ray vision? Why... we call him superman of course. He's not just natural... he's supernatural. Now while superman may just be a created character in a cartoonist's mind, let's take a look at something that is more real. When some of the most loving people around are celebrated for giving away all they posses, Jesus gave away His life. While some of the even more loving people gave their lives for their brothers and comrades and loved ones, Jesus gave His life for those who did not and still do not want much to do with Him. While some of the people we celebrate, loved peace so much that they did not even retaliate against their enemies, Jesus not only did not retaliate but He also went ahead and while being crucified prayed for those very hands that we...

I am 30, and life has seemed to settle into this expected routine. I got my priorities relatively sorted and goals and dreams that I am aiming for. My days are filled with the various activities and errands that ought to move me in the direction that I would like to go. In the middle of all this I am reminded of the fact that when all this is done and that last breath escapes from within me all that will really matter is my character. So I stop. I stop the running around and take a look at my schedules and check to account for any activities, habits and relationships that I have purposely included in my days to invest in my own character. On this second look i find a clutter of things and priorities designed to meet my comfort levels. I stuff my day with so much that does not really build into me anything of particular value in the character department. If God, who abounds in wisdom and knowledge decides to invest in my character rather than my comfort then it would do me a world of go...

In the book of Acts and chapter 16 the story is told of Paul and Silas when they were arrested and thrown in prison. The story highlights the accusations brought against them and tells us how they were stripped and severely flogged before being thrown in prison. It narrates how they were singing and praying in prison and a violent earthquake hits, opening all the doors for them to escape. But they didn't. This confused me. It made me wonder what they were praying for in the first place. As I pondered this passage, it occurred to me that in the midst of all their obvious suffering and afflictions they were probably not praying for a way out or for God's deliverance as we most likely would assume they were doing because we would have been doing that. It cannot be, for if they were praying for rescue then they would have seen the earthquake and open doors as the answer to their prayers and simply would have walked out... free. Their actions during and following the earthquake shed...