Real Life Reflections

My blog has been silent for a few weeks - partly due to the fact that I've been sick and partly due to the fact that I'm not sure how to put my thoughts into words that encourage rather than words that bring guilt. So I pray that as you read these words, it's not guilt, but conviction, that you sense and that you are drawn closer to the Lover of your soul. I recently read Judges 19 and 20 - the story of the Ephraimite whose wife left him (whether or not she was unfaithful or just angry with him seems to be up for debate). He traveled to her father's house to bring her back, and on their way home, they stopped in Gibeah where she was raped and murdered. It's an interesting cast of characters: the wife, for whatever reason, leaves her husband and returns to her father's house (not so lightly done back then); the man who opens his home to the travelers also offers his virgin daughter and the man's wife to the men of the city; the husband shoves his wife out

Nelson Mandela. My guess is that you've heard of him. How about Immaculee Ilibagiza? Probably not, but then again, maybe you have. She survived the Rwandan genocide of 1994. I won't tell her story here, you can read it in her books, Left to Tell and Led by Faith . Invictus, the movie that depicts Nelson Mandela's successful attempt to unite South Africa, just happened to be the next movie in our Netflix queue and I just happened to pick up Led by Faith at the library a couple of days before Invictus showed up in our mailbox. These stories blow my mind. I honestly can't comprehend the magnitude of pain in each story. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for twenty-six years because he fought for the oppressed. Immaculee Ilibagiza lived in a bathroom, unable to move or speak for ninety-one days while she listened to the screams of her friends, neighbors, and family as they were brutally raped and murdered. Yet both Mr. Mandela and Ms. Ilibagiza speak of forgiveness - not of r