“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

2 Timothy 1:7

Cavalier! Irresponsible! Crazy! Nose-picking Moron! Those are just some of the adjectives that people used to describe me this past week because I refused to cancel church services in the light of the corona-virus outbreak. A pastor, who I thought was a friend, said, “James, it is extremely stupid and reckless of you to continue with church services.” Then he added, “Don’t you know one out of every four people are going to die from this virus?” I was shocked by his statement and asked, “Where did you get that statistic?” He said, “From Facebook…” Are we really starting to believe everything someone posts on social media?

Perhaps I am being naïve. I have never had to pastor a church through a pandemic before. It seems no matter what I do, some people will be upset. If I close the church, people will say I should have stayed open. If I stay open, people will say I should have closed. Changes beyond our control are forcing me to wrestle with difficult circumstances that have no easy solutions. Answers only raise more questions.

Last Tuesday, Kansas Governor, Laura Kelly, issued Executive Order 20-04 which prohibited mass gatherings to limit the spread of COVID-19. However, “religious gatherings” are exempt from this order as long as “attendees can engage in appropriate social distancing.” I told one of my deacons that we could have church if we engaged in social distancing. He shouted, “Glory! Halleluiah! I don’t have to sit by my wife!”

Anyway, as I have thought about it, I have realized that only atheists and the devil will be happy with church closing. I don’t have a friend in either of those camps. So, after much prayer and consideration, I have decided to continue having Sunday Services. I fully understand that government officials are telling us the circumstances are bleak. However, if you think federal, state, or local governments can deliver you from anything, just consider the current situation. Politicians are ineptly trying to solve issues that God can solve if we would just call on Him.

Am I too naïve? Well, have you asked Jesus Christ into your life? If not, don’t knock it till you try it.

The point is: Thank God, Jesus didn’t engage in social distancing. God entered into history in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus went to an old rugged cross where He bled and died for your sins. He was buried and laid dead in a tomb for three days and nights. But He rose from the dead. He defeated, death, hell, and the grave. And if you turn from your sins and turn to Christ as Savior and Lord, you can have eternal life. You can have a peace that passes all understanding. You can have a spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind.

I believe that people need Jesus now more than ever. So, I will continue to preach Jesus. This Sunday in church, I will preach Jesus. Until the Lord comes back or calls me home, I will preach Jesus. Even if the government declares martial law (which they might) and locks me up, I will preach Jesus. Even in jail, I will preach Jesus.

I wonder if the jail guards know the words to “There’s power in the blood.”

Don’t keep a social distance from Jesus. Come to Christ today and be saved.

James Collins is the Senior Pastor at First Southern Baptist Church. Find out more about First Southern at the webpage www.fortscottfsbc.com.

Hint for the week: A couple of corn tortillas make a splendid substitute for a few squares of toilet paper. Fortunately, there are other options. Just ask Howard, my friend who is known as one who never lets inconveniences upset him. Recently he emailed his take on the Covid-19 toilet paper rush.

What is this all about?  You don’t need toilet paper.  The origin of the item “wipes” comes from history.  Every cowboy carried a wipe.  Every wagon in the wagon train had multiple wipes.  The “wipe” was a twelve-inch square piece of flannel that you used to “wipe” with.  Afterward at some point you washed it in a stream and let it dry.  In the old West the wipe was scented with crushed sage.  Today you get the same odor from Sage after men’s shaving lotion, a cheap version.  After drying, the “wipe” was ready for use again… In an emergency you could use your flannel shirt tail and then rinse it in the stream.  Flannel “wipes” were an early way to control waste paper refuse. Of course, one had to be careful you didn’t drink the water if someone was rinsing their “wipe” upstream from you. To dry them, you simply hung them on a wheel spoke to dry at the end of the day.

“Howard, Howard, Howard,” I say aloud as I bang my head on my computer table.

So why this rush on toilet paper? It makes no sense. There’s no shortage. Most of it is made in the U.S.A., so we are not at the sharing mercy of some foreign power. There is just a shortage of kindness.

One saleslady told me that she hoped her employer would refuse to buy back the hundreds of rolls a few hoarders will try to return once this pandemic is over. She shared that several buyers bought up enough toilet paper to fill their garages. (Thank you, selfish people. It is because of greedy ones like you that my family will be digging through the rag bag to find some tattered flannel.)

When Dave and I drive from Mexico, occasionally we encounter “toilet paper ladies” (“señoras de papel higiénico”) at gas stations. Their job is to hand us a roll of three or four squares as we enter the restroom. In an emergency, I guess we could beg for more, but thankfully I’ve never been that desperate. I’ve always been grateful our country does not have to rely on such measures. But could that be our future?

Maybe the message for us is the same delivered by Moses as he led his fellow Israelites from a land of poverty to a land of prosperity. “Remember how the LORD your God led you the entire way in the desert these forty years.” There had been miracles aplenty, but Moses knew his follower’s history of forgetfulness. This journey into the Promised Land could be the same. The Israelites could forget to thank God for His blessings. They could become entitled. The same is true for us.

We need to remember—and be grateful for– how God provides. Maybe this time of going without will cause us to never again take little things (like toilet paper) for granted. Then again, maybe it simply will make us more grateful for flannel.

The Bottom Line

by Pastor Jimmy Tucker

God is the Way Maker

I know of two great songs with the same title, one written by Don Moen and the other by Janet Paschal. The title is simply “God Will Make a Way.” Many times we’ve heard the phrase, “God has a good plan for your life.” We nod our heads in agreement, and then stress out with what’s going on in our life.

God’s promise of victory is recorded in the following passage: “I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19 NLT). You might think, “Well, that was then and this is now.” But scripture reveals that God never changes. “I am the Lord, and I do not change…” (Malachi 3:6 NLT). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NLT). “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is” (2 Timothy 2:13 NLT).

In a world that changes from day to day, we can trust God to remain faithful to His Word. Janet Paschal writes: “God will make a way when there seems to be no way. Forever He is faithful. He will make a road when you bear a heavy load. I know God will make a way.” And we can add a portion from Don Moen’s lyrics: “By a roadway in the wilderness, He’ll lead me. And rivers in the desert will I see. Heaven and earth will fade, but His Word will still remain. He will do something new today.”

If you’ve got a mountain in front of you, or a wilderness surrounding you, take heart. Have hope. You’re not alone. God is waiting for you to call on Him. No matter what circumstances you’re dealing with, God has the solution. He will make a way and will go through it with you. Not only will He be there for you, if you call on Him, He will use the situation to strengthen your faith and patience.

The Old Testament account of Ruth and Naomi is one of the best examples of God making a way in a dire situation. Naomi, her husband and two sons had left Israel during a drought. Later, her husband and both sons died, leaving Naomi and her two daughters in-law without support. Naomi and Ruth went back to Israel together. God helped them and Ruth married Boaz. She became the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NKJV). When you’re in a challenging situation and your faith is weak, it’s hard to trust in God’s promises. But God is able to meet your every need if you’ll trust Him and obey His voice. If help fails to come, it‘s not God’s fault because He never fails. The fault must be somewhere on our part. In God’s kingdom everything works by faith, and faith works by love.

The Bottom Line: Don’t know which way to go? Just follow the Way Maker — He’ll get you through.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

Diamond Community Church

Worship 10:45 a.m.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10

The stock market is crashing, and the world is on the verge of a pandemic. People are refusing to leave their homes over fear of the coronavirus. The stores are out of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. If you turn on the news, an “expert” will tell you how this plague is spreading and will soon infect you. I received a letter this week from a woman who was genuinely concerned about the coronavirus. She asked me for some advice on what she should do in this time of worldwide panic. Since this virus has so many people worried, I decided to address it here.

First, I personally am not at all concerned about the collapse of the stock market. I have been preparing for Wall Street to bottom out by having no money in the market. In fact, I have no money at all. My wife, Amanda, has all of it. I’m not sure what she does with it. But she doesn’t give any to me, and she doesn’t give to a stockbroker. So, I’m not worried about the exchange.

Second, I refuse to lock myself away and not interact with people. I had a meeting with my church deacons on Tuesday. I shook hands with everyone. Since they are all men, you know they weren’t all washed hands. Besides, the odds are greater that I will catch a cold, the flu, scabies, or rabies from one of my deacons than the coronavirus.

Third, I am not going to hoard supplies. Nobody has been able to make me understand how having ten cases of toilet paper is going to help your immunity to the coronavirus. I suppose that people are concerned about running out of toilet paper. Well, if that were to happen, I still have that box of Joel Osteen books that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas… I also saw that people are asking $75.00 per bottle for hand sanitizer on Amazon and eBay. I don’t know about you, but elephants will roost in trees before I pay that kind of money for hand sanitizer. I will just stick to soap and water.

Fourth, I refuse to listen to the doom and gloom coming from the “experts.” They are the same bunch that said that all the computers were going to blow up at Y2K. In 2004, they told us that SARS would destroy the world. In 2008, it was the bird flu. The swine flu was going to kill us all in 2010. Zika was the bad bug in 2016. I’m beginning to think the “experts” are only experts at getting things wrong.

Now understand that it is not my intention to make fun of an epidemic. Thirty-one people have died in the United States from the coronavirus, and I am saddened for their families. But I am even more heartbroken over the 1.6 million lives that were lost to abortion last year. However, I don’t hear any outrage from any “expert” over the murder of 1.6 million babies.

It seems to me that people’s reactions to the coronavirus are based totally in fear. Over and over in the Bible, God says, “Fear not.” Additionally, God also says hundreds of times, “…for I am with you.”

The point is: As Christians, we fear not, for Jesus is with us. I don’t know about you, but I refuse to live in fear. Instead, I will live in happiness, security, and with a peace that passes all understanding. None of these are possible without the one thing that is the opposite of fear… FAITH.

What about you? Are you facing each day with fear? If so, know that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you and He will strengthen you.

Have faith instead of fear.

James Collins is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church. He can be reached through the website www.fortscottfsbc.com or by phone at (620) 223-2986.

Counting the dozens of toll booth workers’ hands I touched over our three-day drive home from Mexico, I began thinking about how easily the Coronavirus could pass from one person to another. Hadn’t I made contact with the gas station attendant when I tipped him for washing our car window? And how about those motel rooms were Dave and I stayed? Was the television control infected? Our room key? Germ magnets, for sure.

I had hugged our staff good-bye when we left Mazatlán. Did one of them feel a little warmer than normal? What about the four couples we had over Friday night for our “clean out the refrigerator” party before starting home the next day? One of them was over 80 years old, the age when we are the most susceptible.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping. Besides mine, how many other fingers had squeezed the avocados before choosing a ripe one? Had the lady who bagged my groceries washed her hands for twenty-seconds in warm water upon exiting the bathroom? Perhaps I should begin wearing disposable gloves. Perhaps I should wear disposable gloves to pick out a box of disposable gloves since someone’s ungloved hands had placed them there on that shelf. Or are those just as useless as the white masks that have been sold to those who don’t realize the virus molecules are small enough to filter through the covering? Maybe I should check Amazon.smile for a hazmat suit and stay under my bed. (Can dust bunnies be lethal?)

As I write this, I am looking at autographed letters ready to be mailed. Last night Dave sat down to sign his baseball cards and insert them into self-addressed, stamped envelopes. He did not know one person who had mailed those requests. This morning it dawned on me: some envelopes he licked to seal. Yikes! Perhaps I should Clorox his tongue.

We easily can panic over this outbreak, become paranoid about our activities and live in fear. Our friend Charlie and his wife recently attended a concert in Las Vegas. Charlie said that the crowd sat mesmerized by the orchestra…until, that is, he sneezed, at which point all 1,000 in attendance turned to glare at him.

The problem is that paranoia leads to conspiracy theories such as these that are proliferating: eating in Chinese restaurants is dangerous; the virus is linked to HIV; or COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese research lab. Some shops have installed signs banning Chinese people from entering. What’s next?

What message do we send when faced with a threat? Instead of reason, we scream “Panic! Take care of #1! Over-react!” Granted, we must take precautions, but there’s something else we need to do. Pray. Pray to the One who can do something about our concerns. Pray to the One who tells us not to worry. Jesus said, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27) We need to pray for God to comfort those affected and to keep us diligent and mindful of ways we hopefully can prevent becoming a target. Martin Luther offered advice we all should remember: “Pray as if everything depends on God, then work as if everything depends on you.” Because it does.

“Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” Psalm 144:4

“I like 6 o’clock being 7 o’clock a whole lot better than I did its being 5 o’clock.” I said.

“What?” my wife, Amanda, asked with a look of bewilderment on her pretty face.

“I said, I like 6 o’clock being…”

“I heard what you said, but what did you mean?”

“I just simply meant that I like slow time better than I do fast time.”

“You have lost me. I have no idea what you are talking about.”

After living with her for over two decades, I should have remembered that mine is the scientific mind in the family. Amanda is more romantic than scientific. So, I carefully explained. “Remember we have to turn the clocks forward tonight. When we do that, 6 o’clock, which had become 5 o’clock when we had to turn the clocks up last spring, became 7 o’clock because we turned them back this fall.”

“I don’t think you know what you are talking about.” she said.

“Let me try again. You see,” I started slowly because I could tell this was going to take a while for me to explain. “You see, cold air is heavier than warm air and in the winter months it presses down on the earth. The cold air slows the rotation of the earth down and that’s why scientists must turn the clocks back so we can keep time in pace with the slower rotation. But, then in the spring when the air becomes warmer it doesn’t press down on the earth and the earth spins faster. Therefore, the government makes us set our clocks forward. We have to adjust our clocks to keep up with the fast time.”

“Honey, time is time. An hour is an hour no matter if it’s hot or cold.” she said.

I smiled at her and said, “Okay.” It was pointless to continue. Since she is not scientifically minded, I should not have been surprised that she didn’t understand my reasoning.

Flawed logic is everywhere. Take, for example, the logic of a lost person. Someone is reading this right now, and you are lost without Jesus Christ. Your life is focused on things that perish with the passing of time. You are busy chasing money, possessions, and pleasures while the days are flying off the calendar.

Last week, I was visiting with an eighty-seven-year old man. At one point in our conversation, he said, “It seems like I was a young man just yesterday. The years have passed by me so quickly. I feel like I wasted so much of my life.” My heart hurt for that man as he looked back on a life filled with regrets.

Your time on this earth is limited, but you are eternal. If you are not careful, you can let the passing dominate the permanent. You can spend your life pursuing things that will pass away and ignore your eternal soul.

The point is: Your life on earth is like a shadow that passes with time. Even though your days on earth will end, you will not. You will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. There is only one way out of hell and into heaven and that is salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have never received Christ as your personal Savior, do it today. Believe that Jesus shed His blood on the cross to forgive your sins, and that He conquered death by rising from the grave. Ask Him to save you today.

Don’t wait. The clock is ticking.

James Collins is the senior Pastor of First Southern Baptist Church. He wants to remind you to think scientifically and set your clocks forward one hour tonight before you go to bed. For more information on his ministry go to the website www.fortscottfsbc.com.

The drive home from Mazatlán, Mexico, to Kansas is not easy. The three-hours on the toll road that began our first leg included 61 tunnels and two suspension bridges over deep gorges. Semi-truck drivers many times must creep along in order to make the steep mountain climbs. Because of that, about ninety-five percent of them have created a kind gesture for those of us who get stuck behind them on the numerous curves.

As we near them, they move to the shoulder and wait for there to be no vehicles coming towards them. They put on their blinkers when it is safe for us to ignore the double yellow lines and pass. It is not uncommon in the oncoming lane to have one semi straddling the double yellow while passing another semi. That is our clue to be kind and move to the shoulder.

Or get squashed.

Add to that unmarked potholes, an occasional cow crossing the highway, and men in black working in the tunnels, and it’s no wonder we pray the entire time we navigate this stretch. By the time we reach Durango, Mexico, Dave and I both have white knuckles and sweaty palms.

This past Saturday we were four-and-a-half hours into our journey when Dave realized that we would need more pesos to cover the $100+(U.S.) in tolls. Pulling over to the side of the road, he opened the back door to get into his backpack for the money. That’s when I heard the words that made me want to throw myself in front of the next semi that approached.

“Patty, where’s my backpack?”

“It should be right where you always put it. On top of your small suitcase.”

“Seriously. Where did you put it?”

“Why would I put it anywhere? It’s your backpack.”
“But you double-checked our condo to be sure we loaded everything in the car.”

“And so did you.” Let the blame game begin.

After hyperventilating for a few minutes, I had a brilliant idea. “I may have some pesos. Let’s count all the money we’ve got and see if we have enough to get to the border.”

“Patty, my passport is in my backpack. We can’t get into the U.S. without it.”

Of course, that wasn’t true. I could get into the U.S. Dave could be left on the side of the road to figure out what he needed to do. It crossed my mind.

Or I could be forgiving, laugh it off and drive back to Mazatlán with him. (The only part of that sentence that actually happened begins with the word “drive” and ends with “him.”) I was not laughing. I tried to be forgiving (especially since Dave was blaming me for this blunder), but having to retrace our drive through that mountain—making it nine hours of driving and about $15,000 in pesos only to end up where we started—made me homicidal.

Then Hubby dropped another bombshell. “We don’t have enough pesos to get back to Mazatlán.” I began making plans to jump from the first suspension bridge we crossed.

Dave presented our options: (1) “I can ask for mercy from the toll booth operator.” (No chance since Dave speaks about 10 words in Spanish, and none of them are in that sentence.) (2) “I can leave my watch with her as collateral and get it back tomorrow on our return trip.” (Same “No chance” reason as above.) (3) “We can get off the toll road, but that will add four hours of drive time.” (Sweet Jesus, please, NO!) (4) “Or we could find an ATM.” Which was the first sensible thing he said.

I think God knew that my unChristlike ideas were about to become a reality and I would end up in a Mexico prison because the first exit said “Aeropuerto.” Airports have ATM’s! There was hope. Dave and I both were surprised when I actually exited the airport with pesos and the machine had not eaten my credit card.

Sometimes we just have to be grateful for the little things.

The Bottom Line by Pastor Jimmy Tucker

Last summer I installed (with the help of several pages of instructions) two garage doors. I’ve learned from experience to always use the instructions because it saves time in the long run. Without the installation instructions I might not have ended up with doors that would open and close properly. I’ve made the mistake of trying to put something together by trial and error without using the instructions, only to have to take it apart and do it all over again with the instructions.

A godly man once said, “Learn by the mistakes of others, because you won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” That’s pretty good advice. The Bible is full of examples of people who did things right and people who did things wrong. It’s beneficial to look back at history and learn from the past as we live our lives today.

One of the most common things society does wrong is gripe and complain. Most Christians join right in there without blinking an eye. A good example of a bad example would be the Israelites. Right after God performed the miracles of leading them out of bondage through the Red Sea on dry ground, they started grumbling and complaining about their conditions. In the New Testament, Paul wrote, “Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them [Israelites] did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age” (1 Corinthians 10:9-11 NLT). Okay, so stop complaining about the weather, the government, the food, or anything else. Be thankful for the good things in your life.

In Acts Chapter 5, we read about Ananias and Sapphira. They sold some property and brought part of the money to the apostles and claimed it was the full amount. They both agreed to lie about it. They chose poorly and they both died. Because of this, great fear gripped the entire church and everyone who heard about it. Okay, don’t lie — God hears every word you speak.

Jesus sent off His disciples to cross to the other side of the lake while He stayed behind to pray. During the night, a storm came up and Jesus came walking on the water toward them. Peter yelled, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” So Jesus said, “Come.” Peter stepped over the side of the boat and began to walk toward Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind and waves, he started to sink and called out to Jesus for help. “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. ’You have so little faith,’ Jesus said. ‘Why did you doubt Me?’” (Matthew 14:31 NLT). Okay, choose to believe and repent of your doubt and unbelief.

And then we have Jonah. God told him to go and preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to do that, so he boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction. He ended up being tossed overboard to save the ship. God sent a great fish to rescue him and then vomited him out on the shore three days later. Immediately, the Lord commanded Jonah a second time and said, “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh and deliver the message I have given you” (Jonah 3:2 NLT). This time Jonah chose wisely; he had learned his lesson the hard way. When you argue with God, you will always lose.

The Bottom Line: Don’t live your life by trial and error — follow God’s instructions.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

Diamond Community Church

Worship 10:45 a.m.

“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Matthew 14:30

Some things are just hard to say.

On my first day of kindergarten, I asked Momma what I should do if an emergency came up. She said, “Raise your hand. When the teacher notices you, walk up to her and whisper, ‘May I be excused?’”

“Excused?” That was a new word for me. When I was five years old, I had never heard of asking to be “excused.” The word sounded foreign. It sounded French. I reasoned that “May I be excused?” was French for “Can I go to the potty?”

However, I soon realized that most people don’t speak French. One day, I walked into Kate’s Country Store. An old man smoking a cigar was sitting behind the counter. I said, “Sir, may I be excused?” He blew out a puff of smoke and said, “Sure, kid,” but he never told me where to go. So, I said again, “Sir, may I be excused?” He looked at me and asked, “What’s wrong with you, boy? Are you brain damaged?”

Later, as a teenager, I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I was standing in formation one day and I raised my hand. The drill sergeant looked at me, frowned, and said, “Private Collins, what’s wrong with you now?” I said, “May I be excused?” I never did get to go. I did pushups instead.

Obviously, some people do not understand French.

I used the word “bathroom” for a while, although I never thought about taking a “bath” in the tiny wash basin of a public “bathroom.” Then I noticed “restroom” on a sign. That was a good word, but I was not comfortable using it. I didn’t “rest” in a public “restroom.”

A while back, I was out with some people from church. Someone said, “I need to use the washroom.” That’s perfect. Now, after the waitress takes my order, I look at my hands, turn to her and ask the perfectly logical question, “Ma’am, where is your washroom? I need to wash my hands.”

It would be a lot simpler if everyone knew French.

There is another statement that is hard for people to make, “Lord, save me.”

One night, the disciples of Jesus were sailing across the Sea of Galilee when a strong storm blew up. During that storm, Jesus showed up walking on the water. Peter asked Jesus if he could walk on the water with Him. Jesus said, “Yes,” and Peter stepped out of the boat and walked toward Jesus. But he lost his focus and started sinking. He screamed, “Lord, save me,” and Jesus rescued him.

Today, someone is reading this, and you are going through a storm. Your life and circumstances have not turned out the way you intended. You feel like your boat is taking on water and you are about to go under. As difficult as it may be for you to say, the best thing you can do is cry out, “Lord, save me.” Pray to Him and ask Him to save you.

The point is: Some things are hard to say. Because of stubbornness, pride, self-reliance, it is hard for you to turn to Christ. Eternity depends on you swallowing your pride and saying, “Lord, save me.”

You can ask the Lord to save you in any language, even French, “Seigneour sauve-moi.”

James Collins is the Senior Pastor at Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. He speaks some French, but with a country accent. For more information on his ministry, check out the website www.fortscottfsbc.com.

“If you would have dealt with the father I had, you wouldn’t visit him on his deathbed, either.”

“My boss said that I wasn’t needed any more. Thirty years I have sacrificed for that company, and this is what I get!”

“You have no idea what it’s like to have your spouse say that she’s never loved you when she moves on to someone else.”

In last week’s article, I wrote about revenge. Revenge takes unforgiveness one step further. Should we choose to forgive, revenge becomes irrelevant.

No one modeled forgiveness like Jesus. “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do,” he cried while hanging from the cross. His murderers didn’t ask for—or even care about–forgiveness. They made bets on his clothes, humiliated him, mocked him, tortured him and grotesquely disfigured him. Still, Jesus asked his Father to forgive them. I wonder if those words had any impact on their lives. How could it not?

For two weeks, Fred, the pastor at the church Dave and I attend here in Mexico, shared part of his journey bringing Christ to Mexico in the 1980’s. The congregation sat spellbound since, in Fred’s 25 years of pastoring here in Mazatlán, no one had heard this testimony, including the death threats and persecution he endured early on when attempting to introduce Jesus to some of the regions of Mexico.

Fred spoke of details of an almost-fatal car wreck he, his wife and three-month old daughter survived when hit by a drunk driver. Placed in a body cast, Fred and his family were flown to San Antonio, Texas, where Fred’s cast was removed and he was placed in traction for five months. His wife suffered broken bones and a collapsed lung, and his daughter, brain damage. The Christian doctor and his wife who made arrangements for the transportation and medical care later rented hospital beds for their home and moved into a trailer in their back yard so Fred and his family could receive the care they required after being released from the hospital.

At church today we saw a picture of Fred’s totaled vehicle with the junk yard owner standing beside it. After recovering, Fred was able to meet that owner who commented that “no one should have survived that kind of accident.” Fred shared how God allowed him to lead the man to Christ. Over the next several months, that man led his entire family to Jesus, and within a few years, some of the relatives formed a Christian gospel group and toured the United States singing their praises to God.

Fred eagerly told us how he had a chance to meet and forgive the driver who hit his vehicle head on. Many of his stories were about how he became best friends with those who persecuted him and how those men now have become Christians. Fred understands clichés like “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping it kills somebody else.” He knows that true forgiveness has nothing to do with the other person; rather, it’s about setting ourselves free. It refuses to have to be in control by wishing the offender harm. Instead, it wishes the other person well.

In other words, forgiveness makes us more like Jesus than anything else we can do. Jesus’ own words (Luke 6:37) demonstrate who benefits the most: Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

If that isn’t setting ourselves free, I don’t know what is.

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

“Chappy,” Mike said. “Do you ever wonder what comes after this?”

“After what?” I asked. “The Army?”

“No. Have you ever thought about what happens after you die?”

“Yes.”

“Are you afraid of death?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because Jesus is so real to me. He saved my soul. I know that when I die, I will go to heaven to be with Him.”

Mike looked up at the stars and I did too. I don’t remember ever seeing as many stars as there were in the sky that night over Baghdad. After a minute or so of silence, he said, “Goodnight Chaplain, I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned and went inside the tent. I sat there for a while and prayed for him. Then I went inside, found my cot, and went to sleep.

The preceding conversation took place ten years ago. Operation Iraqi Freedom was winding down and changing to Operation New Dawn. Soon, all U.S. Military Forces would leave the country. Soon, we would all be home. However, Al Qaeda was still active in our area. Iraq was still a dangerous place. So, when Mike asked me about death, I assumed he was worried about the war. How could I have known that there was a war going on inside his soul?

Sometimes we have wounds that are not visible. Mike was wounded inside. He was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was carrying a tremendous amount of pain that came from multiple combat tours.

When we arrived home, I was transferred. Mike and I kept in touch through social media. He would often share pictures of his family, especially his kids.

Last Friday, on Valentine’s Day, Mike took his own life.

By the time you read these words, Mike will be buried. He will be just another statistic. He will be just one of the twenty U.S. Military Veterans who die by suicide in America each day. But to me, he was more than a statistic. He was my friend. I will live the rest of my life with the heartache of not being there when he needed a friend to lean on.

If you know someone who is suffering from depression or PTSD, give them a call. Better yet, go visit them. Who knows? You just might be a friend who can make a difference.

As I have been grieving for Mike, I have sought counsel from another Friend. I have turned to Jesus for comfort. Jesus is a Friend who will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). He is a Friend Who loves at all times (Proverbs 17:17). He is a Friend Who laid down His life for His friends (John 15:13). I don’t know how a person can make it in this world of heartache without my Friend, Jesus.

The point is: Jesus is One Friend you can’t afford to be without. When you turn from your sin, ask Him for forgiveness, and submit to Him, Jesus becomes your Savior, Lord, and Friend. Once you come to Christ, He will be your Friend to the end…and beyond.

Is He your Friend?

James Collins is a retired U.S. Army Chaplain and current pastor of Fort Scott’s First Southern Baptist Church. If you are a Veteran in crisis, call 1-800-273-8255, or call Pastor James at (620) 223-2986.

Mr. Green peered over his fence and noticed that the neighbor’s little boy was in his backyard filling in a hole. Curious about what the youngster was up to, Mr. Green asked, “What are you doing, Jimmy?”

Tearfully, little Jimmy replied, “My goldfish died, and I’ve just buried him.”

“That’s an awfully large hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?” Mr. Green said.

Patting down the last bit of earth, little Joey replied, “That’s because he’s in your cat!”

I know how Jimmy feels. When I was eight years old, the week before Easter I walked downtown to the Kress store, and after spending my entire allowance, returned home with five pink baby chicks. Placing them in the large box I had prepared for them with straw, a soft blanket, water and food pellets, I doted on them for hours while I sat on the ground beside their new home, lifting one at a time to cuddle it.

When the phone rang, I ran inside to answer it. Returning to my quintuplets about ten minutes later, I was horrified to find bloody feathers strewn across the yard. Nearby sat a demon-cat with a pink feather dangling from its snarling mouth. In hysterics, I chased that evil feline until it scampered up a tree where, had I gotten my hands on him, it would have been the beneficiary of the same demise as Jimmy’s catch.

My heart was broken, and even though I might have been a tad bit at fault for leaving my babies unprotected, I accepted none of the blame and instead decided to enact revenge on that homicidal cat. I would stalk him just like he did my chicks. By sundown he had won. My mother refused to let me sleep under that tree with the intent of torturing that murderer, and by morning he had skedaddled, never to return.

I was not able to exact revenge. Bummer!

Martin Luther King knew all about the futility of payback. Perhaps that is why he quoted Mahatma Gandhi when he repeated, “The old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.” When Jesus said we are to love our enemies, he knew that revenge might be sweet, but its after-taste isn’t. Researchers have found there is additional stress and fear in those who perpetrate a “take justice into my own hands” action, probably because most acts of revenge go beyond the original transgression. One has to look no further than gang wars to see this carried out.

As Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to “turn the other cheek.” In our flesh that might not be impossible, but by relying on God-living-in-us, that type of forgiveness means we no longer feel the need for revenge which is, incidentally, the only way to demonstrate we represent a holiness that sets us apart. In other words, we are not to act in a vengeful way if we are to be Christlike.

I’m just not so sure Jesus included demon cats in that category.