Living in Peace

  This year has been off to a rough start.

Having celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago, I saw life flash before me while traveling, brought into a unjustified lawsuit and now news that my father is in the hospital with multiple internal organs shutting down. Add all the other family events that have taken place and the feuds between family members and you have one messed up family.

The news I received this week about my father got me thinking about how short life really is and that we cannot continue to hold grudges or push family aside. This week Pastor Mark spoke about the agony and brutal death our Lord and Savior went through to save us. Pastor Mark stated in his message that forgiven people forgive and further stated revenge will always destroy, although it may not destroy its intended target someone or something will get destroyed when we hold onto the past.

Sadly I must say my relationship with my father has not been a good one. I have not seen my father for several months and furthermore, I/we have not spoken to each other since last June. When I learned about my father’s condition, it was not from my mother or from my sister; it was from my wife who learned about the problem during the day. Wow, talk about a plank striking you in the face. I was so angry and torn up by the problems of the past and our strained relationships not to mention my mother or sister calling me to tell me about the problem with my father.

I must not place full blame on them as I had written a letter expressing my frustrations this past summer and they were taking this to heart and were also torn up about not calling me. I chose to get up early on Thursday to drive across town to see my father and make peace with him so that we both could feel the peace should my father not pull through this very serious condition. I spent most of the day with my mother, father and sister while hearing various medical professionals come into the room and tell us that on paper my father was a dead man yet he was sitting in the bed talking with us and carrying on a good conversation.

HMMMMM, who do think made all this possible? God....

They drive home was a long one and I was able to speak with my sons and let them know that even I may have failed them in their lifetime however wanted them to know how I love them an want nothing more than to see our family restored before something happens to any of our loved ones.

Life is way too short to hold onto the past and allow revenge to get the victory, we do not know when we might take our last breaths or what roads we might take in the meantime however we must be prepared and I thank god I had this chance with my father yesterday.
I do not think that we often look at the big picture when we say, write or do things to each other. The good news is we can make amends because we have been forgiven. In the Lord's prayer we say forgive us as we forgive those. Is this really what we want our Lord to do to us or do we really want to show His love and forgiveness and say forgive as we forgive?

I do not believe life is full of coincidences. I believe God is placed circumstances in our lives that allow us to reflect on how we respond to others or react to situations. The bottom line is do I want to honor God or honor another person by what I do or say?

Enough is enough and it is time to focus on God and live like he has called me to do.