Day 5: Romans 5:15             

Romans 5:15

And what a difference between man’s sin and God’s forgiveness!  For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through sin. But this one man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s mercy. (NIV)

There are many scriptures in the Bible about forgiveness, and for a long time I was searching for answers to help me through a very dark place in my life.

While I was serving in the military, I was deployed overseas in an area where I was engaged in a firefight. I had taken many shots and became hardened by the circumstances. I had made a joke to a buddy of mine, “It just kind of felt like a turkey shoot.”

The part that bothers me the most is that we found out there were children involved. As I recall, the oldest was not more than thirteen years old, and the nature of my joke was unacceptable no matter if it was a child or an adult. It still makes me tear up just thinking about the events that had made me so cold and damaged.

I saw a video on Facebook, where a man went to buy a shirt and the cashier had questioned the customer on the shirt, “Do you really want to buy this shirt; it has a tag stating it is damaged?”

The customer responded, “ This reminds me, that we are all damaged in certain aspects, but if we learn by our scars, we can become a blessing to others.”

This was over 20 years ago, a time in my life when I did not believe in God. I thought church was just a money making scheme. Since then I have done a lot of soul searching and gave myself to the Lord or I should say, “God found me where I was.”  I open the Bible and read about forgiveness; how we are to forgive and forget of others who have wronged us. Last year, I went on my Walk to Emmaus and one of the testimonies was on forgiveness. I learned that forgiveness starts with me and it must come from deep in my heart.

It has been nearly seven years since my dear wife, Daphne, and I made a visit to this church.

It has been through the variety of relationships that I have made with you, through your experiences, that I have found we share a similar journey of forgiveness.

Thank You God for leading me through my brokenness and for showing me Your love through relationships that have helped me to forgive myself; in  Jesus’ name, Amen.

Contributed by Eric