I may have been a tad ambitious with this whole post-a-day shtick. The weekend sort of did it in for me.

Alright, so change of plans. I'm gonna post as often as I can without having to drop out to do it. Fair enough? Gonna have to be, you don't have a say. 

So. 

I heard a sermon yesterday that is probably going to stick with me for awhile. It was about... drumroll.... forgiveness. Of course it was. 

Confession time: Sometimes I don't feel like going to church.

But one thing that usually gets me there is this phenomena: I am always blessed whenever I get off my butt and do it anyway. Always. 

Well, on this ordinary sunday morning I did not feel like leaving my bed. But I did anyway and miracle of miracles, the dang sermon was freakin convicting. Of course it was. 

As I said. Forgiveness. 

Confession #2: I am not generally inclined to this particular trait. 

Needless to say, God saw me coming from... well I guess you could say from eternity ago and decided to have Mr. Preacher-Man talk about Philemon: Forgiveness 101. I didn't know the story behind this book, so I'm going to assume you don't either. Dangerous thing, assuming. Hopefully you won't be too offended. 

Basically Paul is writing to a friend of his (Philemon) about a certain servant of his (Onesimus) that had runaway. Apparently this Onesimus met up with Paul on accident and stayed with him awhile. Eventually the truth came out. By this time Paul had become quite attached to the young man, even calling him his "heart". He pleads with Philemon to forgive Onesimus his betrayal, to take him back as a brother in Christ. It's quite likely that Onesimus himself carried this letter to his master. Imagine the fear Onesimus must have felt. It was a capital offense for a slave to run away. Philemon had every Roman right to make an example out of him. 

Now imagine how Philemon felt. Onesimus was no ordinary slave. He was in all probability a slave by choice. In those days when you couldn't make ends meet you sold yourself as a slave until you could. Philemon was doing Onesimus a favor by allowing him to work in his household. They must have been friends. 

When he ran away, it must have been a terrible blow. A betrayal in every sense of the word. And Paul expects Philemon to just forget about all that?

Of course he does. 

But more importantly, God expects it. 

Just think for a moment. When the last time you sinned? It might be tough, but just think. It wasn't all that long ago, was it? And right at this moment, you are considered whiter than snow to the Almighty. 

How can we do any less? 

Now before you write me off as a big ole hypocrite and start throwing ice-cream (deadly stuff) let me get something straight. I'm no expert. I don't really know if I've ever forgiven anyone completely. Sure, life goes on, people get over it. But I'll always remember. Certain images have simply become part of me. But perhaps it can't be me who does the forgiving. In all likelihood its God who does it. He's the Pro after all. 

So did Philemon end up taking Onesimus back? 

Who knows. There's no follow up. But the fact that this letter is included and remains in the Bible is a good sign. 

It's a great story, isn't it? I'm half afraid that living a great story requires the protagonist to posses a good deal of forgiveness. 

It's a good thing the Great Writer has an everlasting stash.