FORGIVING

It was a hot day in late August, 2012.   I think  he must have checked into the hospital because he was severely ill with septicemia. After the fourth day of no word from police, I break into his apartment by pushing on his screen, throwing myself over his couch.   There is light I see through a six inch space of his bathroom door. I cannot push the door in. Nothing prepared me for this.    My hand reaches in the small crevice. I touch what feels like cement.  Cold, so very cold.   © Angelina 

Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also  gossips and  busybodies, saying what they should not.    1 Tim 5:13 With regard to women in the church, young and old, widowed or unmarried, t here are many women believers who genuinely study His Word, listen attentively to our pastors, and do not partake in gossip.   It is this writer's observation that some women pay little to no attention to the teaching and preaching, but instead cluster together in small groups, whispering, texting, and giggling like teenagers.  They have no interest in growing in the knowledge and grace of our Lord.  And to Paul's point, there are women who, in the guise of charitable works, flit from home to home, gathering news for talk in the pews.   _______ "Not only does he prescribe to Timothy the course which he ought to follow, but the women also must be carefully taught not to be stained with such...

He called from the bottom of the stairs, "Hey Mom, come here for a minute, no wait, I'll come up there." He knew I was tired and the day hadn't even begun yet. I fatigue easily some days. It's the cancer, but we don't like to talk about it. I try to be energetic, and believe it or not, sometimes I can pull it off. Not today. There's something about the color of my face, the lack of sparkle in my eyes, the look that says, "I really want to listen but I just need to rest."  He found me sitting comfortably in my easy chair at my computer in the living room. "Remember? No, you probably don't because of your memory," and then he had difficulty finishing what he meant to say. I wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to show me what he was holding, or because he was upset that he knew I was very tired, or maybe both. He's a very sensitive man of 30, and he's sad most of the days now because of our situation. Few things break...

Thank you so much for your kind words of comfort. I profoundly miss John, as we were very close for over 25 years, a true brother in Christ. Toward the last few weeks, he said he just has to make it to the finish line, perseverance, after having run the good race.  John reminded me often that his ALS was a light and momentary affliction. He was the most courageous man I knew.  He suffered immensely during his last few hours. No respirator this time, and no trip to the ER - the hospitals refused. They knew he was on his way out. He was in respiratory distress, double pneumonia, all final stages of his ALS.  The night before he passed, he called and told me to record the conversation. He instructed me about his financial affairs, and other things he needed to say. He could barely speak, but he was calm, resolute. He told me not to tell his brother until "it was all over".  And it was, at 7:27, the next morning, In a different time, I would have b...

This is the true faith which interests us in, and entitles us to—Jesus Christ. And if we are  in  Christ while we live, we shall be  with  Christ when we die.   Though they depart from us—yet they go to Christ, which is far better.  We should  mourn  for those who are living—yet dead in sin; and   rejoice  for those who are dead—yet live with Christ. Our dear departed brother had holy pangs of desire which seemed no less strong than the pangs of death. He panted after God as his ultimate and supreme desire. He did often with joy repeat the words of the text, and seemed to roll them as honey under his tongue. We may therefore entertain good hopes of him who is placed in that paradise of God, which he thirsted after. I wished him to look up to the merits of Christ. "I must," said he, "rest there or nowhere." Oh, what a comfort is this, to think that our friends are not only taken away from the evil to come (Isaiah 57:1)—but that...

Some called him a babbler, and thought he spoke, without any design...this  scatterer  of words, that goes about, throwing here one idle word or story and there another. Some of the critics tell us that the term scatterer is used for a little sort of bird, that is worth nothing at all, either for the spit or for the cage, that picks up the seeds that lie uncovered, either in the field or by the wayside, and hops here and there for that purpose—such a pitiful contemptible animal they took Paul to be, or supposed he went from place to place venting his notions to get money, a penny here and another there, as that bird picks up here and there a grain. They looked upon him as an idle fellow, and regarded him, as we say, no more than a ballad-singer. Others called him a setter forth of strange gods, and thought he spoke with design to make himself considerable by that means. And, if he had strange gods to set forth, he could not bring them to a better market than to Athens: "Th...