Forgiveness.

I wonder how many of us have ever really thought about what forgiveness entails. My church recently, as part of a four part series, did a message about forgiveness. The message started off with a five question quiz.

Each question is either true or false:

1. A person should not be forgiven until he asks for it.

T or F

2. Forgiving includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused.

T or F

3. Forgiveness includes restoring trust and reuniting a relationship.

T or F

4. You haven't really forgiven until you've forgotten the offense.

T or F

5. When I see someone hurt, it is my duty to forgive the offender.

T or F

As a highlight of the service, Steve Saint (son of Nate Saint) and Mincaye (tribe member) were speaking. Mission Aviation Fellowship had also allowed them to bring along what had been salvaged of Steve's dad's airplane. It was 50 years ago this month that Steve Saint learned his dad wouldn't be coming home again. The new movie, End of the Spear is scheduled to be released later this month. (Pictures from the service...)

I've tried to digest what the service meant to me. It was so powerful and so real, to see Steve and Mincaye standing side-by-side and to realize that Mincaye's hands, that were so lovingly reaching out to Steve were the very hands that shed his father's blood. Yet, there he stood, in front of thousands of "foreigners" giving his testimony, in his native language, when 50 years ago he was spearing someone to death. Forgiven. He was forgiven. His smile and joy in life attested to that.

Mincaye was asked to say a prayer, which he did in his native language, with Steve Saint providing translation. Instead of closing my eyes, I watched him. His voice was kind of nasally, perhaps because the language he speaks requires lots of nasal tones. His eyes were scrunched closed, as tight as they could be. His face spoke of his emotions toward his God, the God who guides him (and us) on our trails as we go to His place. His voice rose and fell with the emotions that he was feeling. His hands moved as he told God his words, conveying story through his movements. And as he prayed, it stripped all the rhetoric, wrapping and bows away and left his faith naked and bare. It was a prayer that anyone who has faith and love for our Creator could pray. It was, perhaps, the most real prayer I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of prayers. It made me crave that in my relationship with God. It inspired me. It brought me to tears. It brought those around me to tears. It was real. We are forgiven.

If the link works, you can watch the service yourself. Form your own opinions.

Link

You can bet, I'll be at the movie theaters watching the movie, End of the Spear, when it comes out this Friday.

P.S. In case you were wondering, the answers to all of the questions in the quiz listed above are false.