Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: REMEMBER (02/03/22)
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TITLE: Does God Forget? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Noel Mitaxa
02/10/22 -
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Displays of well-thumbed sports artifacts and relics added to the atmospheree by giving older patrons time to relive some of their own exploits. Pastor Craig often peeled back the years to his pitching days, without nostalgia fueling any fantasies…
""How times have changed," he’d muse, with a smile. "Now the balls seem so small, and those bases look so far apart. Maybe I could still jog from the dugout over to the mound and back again, but any return to pitching would risk the ball barely reaching the catcher - being slowed down by the weight of my arm still hanging off from it!"
Sam’s had so many regular clients that bookings were advisable, so Pastor Craig had arranged for some time with Mike, who had begun attending regularly after recently stepping inside his church one morning.
Mike had just moved into town from a nearby state, a move prompted by what he had described as a messy divorce, and he had appreciated how the church folk had welcomed him with non-prying openheartedness.
But Craig sensed a touch of edginess that some one-on-one time might ease, and what better venue for this than Sam’s…
When he arrived, Mike was waiting outside, with a smile that belied the tension in his eyes. They shook hands, entered, and found a booth near the back, from where they order a pot with two mugs and an industrial-strength supply of donuts.
The waitress returned, set down the goodies from the tray and filled their mugs. “Here you are, guys. Please let me know if there’s anything else you need,” she said, pausing with a smile to acknowledge their thanks, before she returned the tray to the kitchen.
After sipping from his brew, Mike looked Craig in the eye.
“Pastor, how can I be sure about this salvation that you folks talk about?” he asked, “I mean, I know God is good, and that he is supposed to forgive, but I can’t shake off memories from what I had to leave behind. Does this forgiveness apply to me too? And what about the wrongs I’ve had done to me?”
“Mike, you’ve travelled through stuff that I haven’t personally experienced, but I’ve put in time with lots of folks who have. And even though the pain varies in its source, and it springs in different ways, I’ve helped them to see how God’s grace can touch the deepest levels of their pain. And as they tap into that grace, they start to grow in a mix of freedom and confidence.”
“But have they been betrayed like I have?” countered Mike, his eyes filling with an anger that was causing serious damage to his donut. “I mean, I found my wife in bed with my best friend! That’s two betrayals in the one hit! How is God’s grace supposed to touch that?”
"'A soft answer turns anger aside,' as the proverb goes," thought Craig, as he silently prayed for wisdom. “Mike, I can barely imagine that level of betrayal, and how much that has hurt you,” he replied, reaching across to place his hand on Mike’s shoulder.
“Mike, God’s heart is open to you. He has personally experienced betrayal, when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his followers. And right in the middle of the Bible we gave you, you’ll find 150 Psalms, a list of prayers that come from every emotion that we feel – from fear, anger, desertion, depression, revenge, defeat, despair, and a whole lot more. And psalms that begin with those negatives start to lighten up, as God steps inside the psalmists’ heart and mind to personally take their pain. For if we lock our memory around them, they will poison our attitudes and foul our future.
“Here at Sam’s Coffee Dugout, we’re constantly reminded that you’re out after three strikes. But God’s grace and forgiveness keep coming, to wipe out all our strikes – and others’ strikes - for he says, ‘I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’”
“And remember, Mike, this conversation won’t answer all your questions, but there’s a whole bunch of us at church who will keep praying for you,” he added, watching the tension in Mike’s expression begin to fade...
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