The wisdom of God appears in afflictions.
By these He separates the sin which He hates,
from the son whom He loves.
By these thorns He keeps him from breaking over into Satan’s pleasant pastures,
which would fatten him indeed, but only to the slaughter.
James H. Aughey
(the homeless Christ sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz outside Christ Church Cathedral / Dublin, Ireland / Julie Cook / 2015)
“This world is a sick man, whom sin has made sick,
for sin is a sickness,
and to scorn sinners is to scorn the sick.
With prayer our healer walks around the grievously sick patient,
with prayer he walks and
with prayer he heals and makes whole.
Do not scorn sinners, but pray for them.
Feel pity and compassion for every creature, but do not condemn.
Expand and deepen your soul with prayer,
and you will begin to cry over the mystery of the world bitterly and vehemently.
Make your heart prayerful, together with your soul and your mind,
and they will become inexhaustible fountainheads of tears for all mankind.
The most reverend man of prayer has made his whole soul prayerful,
together with his spirit and mind:
and he feels the sins of all sinners as though they were his own,
and he repents for all sins as though they were his own,
as he weeps and sighs.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
Good morning to you, Julie!
A good morning to you Wally
I wrote this post yesterday afternoon– last night Gregory’s store was broken into– 3 black males– smashed a rock through one one of the front glass panes–,this was at midnight– didn’t get back home til almost 3–today, reading my own post, I am charged with praying for the sinner as we are victims of the sin
Oh Julie..I’m really sorry to hear that.
I must heed my own offerings
Yeah. I hate it when that happens. Write something, then life happens, and I realize I just taught myself
In your words- “yep”
Since we all sin, we all need to pray for sinners. Still, there is nothing wrong with praying those miscreants will be caught, locked up, prevented from preying on the innocent, and given time to reconsider a life of crime. I just wish our prisons did a better job of convincing people crime does not pay.
Anyway, I hope your losses were not to severe. I suspect the break-in will cause some anxiety. That’s worth some prayer too, and that is my prayer for you and Gregory.
Thank you Tom– oh you better believe that whereas I will pray for the sinner I hope for justice of the sinner’s sin– they were wearing hoodies and gloves- little to go on but some very distinctive tennis shoes– and this town being what it is I wonder if they may not be former high schoolers of mine– and if they are.. woe to them if Cookie finds out!
I cannot stand a vandal or a thief!
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Julie, so sorry to hear about Gregory’s store! Yesterday morning I was watching a Canadian programme about forgiveness – and that is where the rubber really hits the road. Prayers for you and Gregory as you work through this on so many levels – and prayers for those who perpetrated the crime, that God would bring someone to them who would share the love of Christ with them. Blessings and hugs.
It’s so hard to remain positive in such a sin sick world 😞
It is a wicked sinful world for sure. There’s no doubt about that. But Christ walks the earth still and we can see and/or feel His presence around us if we but look and listen. And as evil as Satan and his legions are they are ALL still under the authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Love and hugs, Natalie 🙂 ❤
How we need to pray…
and so it is….