Skip to main content

Three Life Changing Words



            By now we all know about the terrible and horrific events that unfolded on Parliament Hill and at the National War Memorial on October 22nd.  What you may have missed is the role that Barbara Winters played on that day.
            Winters, a lawyer and a former member of the Canadian Forces Naval reserve, was walking to her office near the Canada Revenue Agency building when she heard the unmistakable sound of gun fire.  She began to run, not towards safety, but toward Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.
            When she arrived, several others were tending to his wounds, so she did the one thing she could do: she held his head and began talking to him saying, “You are a good man.  You are a brave man.  You are loved.”  She told him to remember that he was doing something good by serving his country and standing guard.  “Your family loves you.  Your parents are proud of you.  Your military family loves you.”  She kept repeating these words until Cpl. Cirillo passed away in the arms of those who were try to save him.
            Later, when asked why she said those words to him, Winters replied, “When you are dying, you need to be told how loved you are.”
            That last line hit me hard and made me wonder, “What am I telling people?  What do people most often hear from me?”
            I mean, if I really believe that the people around me are dying spiritually (Ephesians 2:1 tells us that apart from Christ we are “dead in our sins and transgressions”), am I saying the right thing?  Sadly, most of the time my words sound like this; “Try harder”, “Do better”, “Stop doing this” and “Start doing that”.  My sermons, classes and even my personal interactions often point out where we need to change, but what if that is not the starting point? 
            What if Barbara Winters is right?  What if people simply need to hear that they are loved?  What would happen if I talked more about God’s grace and his forgiveness?  What if nothing really changes in people’s lives until they understand that “God loves you”?
            “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).  
            When we start with that message, dying people (including me) find life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Press The Button!

  Consider This:  Press the Button! My favourite TV game show is Jeopardy.  I used to like it even more when my kids were younger, because I could easily beat them and look smart.  These days, after they have grown up and gone to university, it is much more difficult.  However, Jeopardy is still the only game show I will watch. In a book I read, a contestant who did very well on the show shared the secret to his success.  He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “You must press the button before you know the answer.  Everyone on Jeopardy is smart. Everyone knows the answer. The key to winning is to act.  You must jump in and press the button, assuming that your brain will catch up and supply the answer.  If you wait until you are sure, you will be too late!” Press the button! Too often, we hesitate, not because we do not know what to do, but because we do not want to do it.  Sometimes, we fail to act because we are not sure how the situatio...
Post a Comment
Read more