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

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more