Crime And Punishment

I thought about writing a column this week on why I wish Sarah Palin had won the presidential campaign. I know she wasn’t actually running for president but I guarantee you the huge majority of us real conservatives that punched beside John McCain were not voting for him but the Alaskan governor.

Now, (just like the 1970 movie) instead of Sister Sarah we got two democrats headed to the Whitehouse.

God bless our new President and may he be a good one. I really didn’t want to write on politics today.

Jesus Held Hostage
Then I thought about writing on the cheesy statue of Jesus stolen from a Michigan house.

In an apparent case of "doo unto others" a neighborhood spat over dog droppings resulted in a statue of Jesus Christ being stolen from a yard, and a ransom note left in their mailbox.

The Nobel prize-worthy writers of the ransom note stated ,

“We are holding Jesus ransom until you clean up the poopie from your wieners and trust us, we see you take your wieners for long walks w/out picking up their poopie in our yards. This has upset us dearly so please clean up all the wiener poopie, if you want to see Jesus unharmed.”

Only people from Michigan would talk like this. I can hear the writer’s nasally accent like those North Dakota people from the movie “Fargo” so let me translate into Texan.....

“We are all tired of your wieney dogs making our yards a biohazard and will be holding your yard art hostage until you clean up ours.”

– or something like that I think.

Yes I was going to tie into how I think religion holds Jesus hostage. The Yankee verbiage in that ransom note was just too embarrassing to include in my quality column.

He-brews
These are the confessions of a highly caffeinated Christian and I typically just spout off on what’s perking my front burner. But with so many things going on it’s been hard to lock in on one subject. So after careful review and study of my copious journaled notes, the big theme for the week in my life is Forgiveness. Ta-da! I finally landed on a subject and it only took me 409 words.

A-D-D is a beautiful thing.

Essential service of forgiveness
Unforgiveness is a destiny killer and a misery maker. We have to have forgiveness, not only for our sins and offenses but also in our own hearts for those around us. God is trying to disconnect us from our history while attaching us to our destiny. The Biblical term for this process is called reconciliation followed by restoration, both of which follow forgiveness.

See, for those of us that love the idea of justice, we have to deal with the paradox of forgiveness. God loves justice but justice doesn’t always have to be punishment. He wants justice to result in restoration. I think the relational side of justice is restoration and the un-relational side is punishment. One of the core values in my life is to prefer restoration over punishment. I got this from God.

So if I am going to love justice and would prefer restoration over punishment then I have to condition myself in the art of practicing forgiveness. That’s where the trouble starts. For a guy with a bumper sticker that reads, “Keep honking while I reload,” forgiveness has been a big challenge. However, my robust attempt to wrap my size 7-5/8 hatband around this subject has churned out a significant discovery or two.

For instance, forgiveness is not natural but is an intentional act of faith. It is not a feeling but a choice we make in surrendering to God’s goodness. Forgiveness does not excuse the wrong done to us but rather relinquishes the right for punishment and looks for reconciliation.

I have also noticed that when I judge people its always on their actions while I expect everybody to judge me according to my intentions or circumstances. I fear that anyone would define me by one mistake or even one season in my life while I so easily file human beings into a “bad” category by the same flimsy standard.

While I very much know the need for prisons and am glad for my families sake we have them, I hate prisons. I hate it when a person’s entire life, whether the victim or the perpetrator of the crime, is defined by one act or one season in one’s life. That’s what you see in prisons whether it is a State jail or an emotional trauma. There’s no hope in prison at all, just anger and shame. Enter forgiveness, and things start to change.

So there’s my cup of Jehovah Java for the week. One you probably shouldn’t sip carefully but rather drink deep and let it change your morning to a good one.

Contact the Brewer at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com