The images ... even the THOUGHT of the images, are ... are ... there's no word that is adequate. Discomforting sounds like a pair of too-tight underwear. Appalling seems too snobbish. Unsettling is an understatement. Heart-rending comes closer ...

We began a discussion Wednesday evening during prayer time that i need to continue tomorrow morning - on forgiveness. I cannot walk in the shoes either of the prisoners or of the Berg family. I cannot walk in the shoes of the guards, or the masked perpetrators of the beheading. I can approach the event with ... a broken heart.

I can't help but cry for the families of the dead. I can't help but cry for the desensitization ... the dehumanization that the guards and the masked men have suffered to bring them to a place where they can commit the acts they committed and still function, in whatever twisted way we can define the word 'function' that means.

Tony worked on my brakes yesterday morning. I sat with him, being mechanically challenged as I am, and just visited. He and I are the same age. He was in the Navy, he has two teenage sons. His wife teaches our children gymnastics. He works for a local defense contractor. He saw the video on the website. He said what surprised him was the intensity of his response -- and it was sheer rage. He wanted to go and kill the men RIGHT THEN.

So the passage for tomorrow is from Matthew 5:

43"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.?

Pray for me. I'm not sure where this is going to end up. I just know that that is the passage I need to preach from.

grace & peace