Two friends were walking through

the desert. During some point in the journey they had an argument and

one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped

was hurt much more in his heart than on the skin of his face, but without

saying anything he wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY FRIEND SLAPPED ME

IN THE FACE."

They kept walking until they

found an oasis where they decided to take a swim. The one who had been

slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend rushed

to his aid and saved him. Afterward the saved friend carved into a stone:

"TODAY MY FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped

and saved his friend asked him, "After I hurt you you wrote in the

sand, but now you carve into a stone ­ why?"

He replied, "When someone

hurts us we should write it down in sand where the winds and waves of

forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for

us and blesses us with kindness and peace, we must engrave it in stone

where no wind nor wave can ever erase it."

The point is clear. Do you

want a happy life? Sure you do! Do you want to know the secret of finding

joy in living? Of course! Do you want a peace in this world that has perhaps

eluded you to this point? Without a doubt! Here's the key: Simply learn

to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone!

The truth revealed in this

little forwarded e-mail story holds more blessings than we can imagine,

doesn't it? Who among us doesn't spoil day after day of precious life

now carrying a chunk of granite around in our heart carved with the hurts

and harms that someone has done against us? It burdens and destroys us.

Who among us hasn't written the good of someone only in sand where we

soon have forgotten how sweet and good it was? But, oh, how wrong that

is! How opposite of what gives life and joy!

"But how can we write

our hurts in sand?" you may ask. The answer lies in the word "forgiveness".

And we must remember where forgiveness starts. It starts with God. It

comes first of all to us from God in Jesus. That's what "The Jesus

Story" is all about! God could write our sins, failures, faults,

and shortcomings in granite ­ and hold them against us for eternity.

But Jesus died so that the strikes against us might be washed away as

easily as writings in the sand where the waves pour over and quickly erase.

Acknowledging God's forgiveness of us is the only answer to being able

to forgive others. And that's the Gospel Truth!

Do these words come to mind?

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against

us." That's one of the main requests we make almost daily of our

Father in Heaven. This is exactly what that means!

I had never heard this "Sand

or Stone" story until just the other day. I know I will not soon

forget it. My prayer is that the same will be true for you.

[Kollmeyer is Pastor of Prince

of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, located on Hwy. 314 between

Lowe's and The Pavilion. He invites anyone without a church home to worship

on Sundays ­ 8:15 Early Service (Outdoors in beautiful "Peace

Chapel" during the summertime on the 1 st and 3 rd

Sundays of the month); 9:30 Contemporary Service; or 11:00 Traditional

Pipe Organ Service. For more information log-on at or call 770-461-3403.]

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