A mother’s decision to forgive the boy, who murdered her only son, has had a bigger impact than she could have imagined. In 1993, a 16-year-old killed Mary Johnson’s son Laramiun during an argument at a party. Mary wanted justice and said the killer, Oshea Israel, deserved to be caged because he was…

A new App called Confession is available for the iPhone and iPad. With it, a Roman Catholic can confess their sins remotely, without visiting a confessional or a priest. A Roman Catholic bishop has approved its use. The App allows them to type their sins into a confessional box and receive instructions…

Communion For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. [27] Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. [28] But let a man examine himself, and so let…

The events of December 7, 1941 changed the world forever. That day also marked the beginning of a change for one of the men who attacked Pearl Harbor. Mitsuo Fuchida was hand selected by Admiral Yamamoto to lead the Japanese attack, and took great pride in the devastation his forces inflicted. Fuchida…

CONFESSION Estelle Fusco couldn't believe what her cousin was saying. Her cousin's husband is a Naval officer with a new duty station in Italy. When the movers delivered their belongings to their new quarters they smelled a terrible odor. Finally, after opening several boxes they found the source of…

Simon Wiesenthal, an Austrian Jew spent four-and-a-half years in various Nazi concentration camps during WWII. Wiesenthal, one of the few to survive the atrocities of the Holocaust, recounts a harrowing story in his memoir, The Sunflower. While working to clear rubbish from a make-shift hospital, a nurse…

God's Autograph in the Sky Have you ever watched children build a "castle" out of Lego blocks? They don't develop architectural drawings or do structural analysis, instead, they just start sticking blocks together. On rare occasions, they cooperate, usually the play time ends when one child gets frustrated…

FORGIVENESS On November 12, 2006, Frank, a follower of Christ, and his wife Becca were walking in Denver with their two children, Macie, four years old, and Garrison, two. Mom and Dad were pushing Macie and Garrison in a side-by-side stroller. As they crossed an intersection, a drunk driver named Lawrence…

FORGIVENESS A Grinch of sorts was busy in South Florida this past holiday season. On Christmas Eve, Ron and Helen Meijer found a ransom note in their front-lawn nativity scene. The plastic baby Jesus had been kidnapped. The kidnappers did not demand money. Instead, they made a demand the Meijers refused…

Stephen "And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:60 Stephen preached a gospel message to those who gathered to hear him speak, but unlike his friend Peter, he did not see three thousand people saved.…

Wildfires, started by two teenagers, recently spread through Gatlinburg, Tennessee destroying everything in their path, and claimed fourteen casualties, including a mom and her two daughters. Imagine being the husband/father that received this news, knowing that the whole situation was avoidable and…

A beautiful spirit worthy of a Christian was that of a man who found his horse in the pound one day. The farmer who put it in said, “I found your horse in my field, and I put it in the pound. If I ever catch it there again, I’ll put it in again.” “Well,” replied the other, “I found six of your cows in…

Fyli, a municipality in Greece, northwest of Athens has a debt of $500 million. They have been granted generous terms for repayment. In 2016, authorities awarded the city 25,546 months to pay meaning the debt will finally be paid in 4144. Our debt of sin could not be paid, even if we had 25,000 months…

In the 1960’s, Simon and Garfunkel was one of the top recording artists. Then right at the top of their popularity they split up, going their separate musical ways. Now 45 years later we discover that Art Garfunkel has never forgiven Paul Simon for the breakup. Attributing the breakup to Simon’s unwillingness…

For 100 days in 1994 Rwanda was a killing field. Saveri Nemeye was one of the aggressors. With a machete he brutally killed Rosaria Bankundiye’s husband and their four children. Released from prison in 2004, Saveri went to Rosaria and begged for forgiveness. Rosaria considered his request and then granted…

When her car disappeared, Erin Hatzi looked at the video from her surveillance camera and saw a woman walk up to her car, sit in it for a few minutes, and then drive away. She thought it was odd that the person would sit in the car for several minutes, but she filed a report anyway. The next afternoon,…

The Egyptians at the Red Sea were not destroyed little by little; they were not swallowed up in the flood a regiment at a time; the eager depths that had by miracle been divided for a time leaped together, and Pharaoh and his hosts, all of them, were covered, to be seen no more forever. Sing unto the…

If your house were on fire, you would rejoice to hear that the fire engines were coming down the street. You would feel an absolute certainty that they were coming to you, because your house was in a blaze if no one’s else might be. If there were appointed today a commissioner for the relief of such…

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Brotherly forgiveness makes room for the forgiveness of Jesus to enter into their common life. Instead of seeing their neighbours as men who have injured them, they see them as men for whom Christ has won forgiveness on the cross. They meet on…

Diane De Han watched an Oregon court sentence the man who killed her son to prison, and was prepared to hate him or seek revenge. Instead, when she saw the 21-year-old man in court with no one to support him, and heard his confession, her heart went out to him. Within two weeks, De Han wrote the man…

FORGIVENESS During a Walla Walla Community College basketball practice, Kayla Hutcheson had a face first collision with a teammate. Kayla thought little about the injury. She finished practice, returned to her apartment, but later that evening began to feel bad. After becoming disoriented, her roommates…

On October 2nd, 2006 at 10:25am, Charles Carl Roberts IV entered a one-room schoolhouse in the Amish community of Nickel Mines in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He instructed all of the adults and young boys to leave, but held the remaining ten girls hostage. Sensing what was to come, one of the girls offered…

On December 19, 2016, Pastor Karl Sisson was looking at Christmas lights with his family. Tragically, Adrian Murray, a drunken 24-year-old driver struck and killed Pastor Sisson’s nine-year-old son, Josiah. Pastor Sisson wasted no time in forgiving Murray. Within 24 hours, the Pastor embraced and forgave…

In “Restraint in Relationships,” Mike Clements writes, “Mustering restraint in hostile relationships can feel like walking through a minefield. Our footing will seem unsure as we meet hostility with restraint. God’s character and resurrection power help Christians rise above the hostility of this world.…

In the book, Forgiveness and Health: Scientific Evidence and Theories Relating Forgiveness to Better Health, the authors write, “Unforgiveness has been positively associated with psychological disorders including depression, anxiety, and PTSD.” In other words, not forgiving others hurts your mental health.…