Forgiveness is all Powerful

Yesterday was a rough day. I felt fairly well but about 1am I had to get in a tub of hot water to help ease the pain in my legs. I read, prayed and waited and 3 hours later I was able to get back in bed. As usual I try to do too much too quickly so I have submitted myself to my doctor, my wife and to Sandy who will do my physical therapy.

We received another child tonight. She is 16 year old Erika. God is pouring His blessings upon us.

When my younger sisters, Chrlotte and Virgina, and little brother, Dalbert, were all under 11 years of age we lived in a sprawling house that is now pretty much trashed and by far the ugliest home in our old neighborhood.  I loved our corner home on Marshall Boulevard. Behind us lived the Guidrys with Gilbert being in my class from kindergarten through high school graduation. On the left side were the Melacon’s and the father who is now in his mid-90s came to see me preach recently. He is amazed at the baddest boy in the neighborhood preaching the Gospel. On the opposite corner were the Johns .Two more of my classmates who went on to become a Louisiana State Representative and the other was a head football coach in Lake Charles. Judy, one of my high school sweethearts lived 2 doors down and she, also, came to hear me preach last September. What a simple and safe life we all lived back in the 50s.

But getting back to my siblings there were times the rains poured in torrents and we were not always allowed to go swimming in the ditches or belly flop on our lawns because   of the lightening .

Now that brings me to my boxes of dominos that I rarely played with as you would with normal dominos.  But the 4 of us would start way back near my make-shift bedroom and we would stand hundreds of dominos upright giggling and anticipating what was going to happen. The domino line would reach all through the house into the kitchen. With a second look at the line throughout the hour finally my younger brother would touch the first domino and each domino caused the next one to tumble into the next and into the next and you get the idea.

FORGIVENESS has a domino effect. When we refuse to forgive we stop the falling of the dominos. But when we do forgive others we begin a series called a domino effect and hundreds of lives can be touched.  The death bed is not the time to forgive someone. If I accept forgiveness but do not forgive another person the dominos stop falling. Each domino has to step down from the judgment set of self-righteousness and realize that every domino is identical. We are all the same. We all need forgiveness and once given to us we release that forgiveness to others.

There was never a feeling of joy when our dominos hit a glitch and either did not fall at all or fell sidewise and stopped the flow. That was an empty feeling and so we again began setting up the dominos for another opportunity. You know what I am saying. Unlike dominos we may never have a second opportunity to forgive someone.

Revenge sucks!!!

But falling dominos fill the house of God with the songs of angels.