So, there I was, driving down the road on my way home from work. The time was around 7:50am. I was maybe 2 miles from the end of my journey. Wait! What's that brown shape that appeared from behind the building heading for the... Anti-lock brakes start pulsing! Swerve to the right!
SMACK!!!
I hit the back of the deer. Must have been around the left rear leg, or the back side of the deer. I went from about 40 to between 25 and 30. The deer spun around in a couple circles and fell down in the middle of the opposite lane. I pulled the truck off in the gravel. The guy in the truck behind me kept going. I looked in my mirror, and the deer had gotten up and ran off into the woods.
I pulled down the road a couple hundred feet (maybe that far) into a church parking lot. Didn't see any damage to my truck. Got my umbrella and walked back up the road, but didn't see any signs of the deer.
Friday, October 17, 2008
the problem with grace and mercy
Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, "price paid, wages", from merc-, merx "merchandise") can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power (e.g. mercy shown by a judge toward a convict) or on the part of a humanitarian third party (e.g. a mission of mercy aiming to treat war victims). Mercy is a term used to describe the leniency compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing. One of the basic virtues of chivalry, Christian ethics, Judaism, and Islam, it is also related to concepts of justice and morality in behaviour between people. In India, compassion is known as karuna.
In a legal sense, a defendant having been found guilty of a capital crime may ask for clemency from being executed.
To be "mercy", the behavior generally can not be compelled by outside forces. (A famous literary example is from The Merchant of Venice when Portia asks Shylock to show mercy. He asks, On what compulsion, must I? She responds The quality of mercy is not strained.)
----- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Christianity, divine grace refers to the sovereign favour of God for humankind — especially in regard to salvation — irrespective of actions ("deeds"), earned worth, or proven goodness.
----- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_grace
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The problem with grace and mercy, is that people take it for granted. It is shown to us once, and then we come to expect it. When it is finally taken away, we become indignant and upset.
Have we given any thought to why grace and mercy are extended to us?
Is it because of weakness? They're scared of us - they won't do anything. They're scared of being laughed at by higher-ups - they won't do anything. Those who are Christian aren't supposed to care what the world thinks of them. We have to remember that we don't get our value - our self-worth - from what the world thinks of us. We're not supposed to be of the world, because of this, the world will despise us. The world judges by its own skewed standards.
(I find it disgraceful that the media is trying to convince us that McCain has lost the election, so that their messiah can be elected.)
(McCain '08 The slightly lesser - but still lesser - of two evils)
Maybe grace and mercy are extended to us because we're being protected from something... God extends grace and mercy so we can escape Hell. Maybe non-Christians are just "paying it forward", or they just feel like it. (Can the unsaved truly know what grace and mercy are?) Maybe Christians are trying to practice what they preach...
One day it ends. The events involved with the End of Times occurs in Christian Theology. Procedures and protocols are trampled over in the human world.
Comments? Questions?
Thinly veiled message? I went to Walmart a while back and bought a pair of 13W boots. They felt good when I put them on. (The 12W I had to soften and stretch before wearing.) Now, my toes have the sides pushed out, and they fit really well. So... I wear them. Had they been 11W, I wouldn't wear them - because they wouldn't fit...
I write as much for myself as anyone else. The whole removing the plank thing... :)
In a legal sense, a defendant having been found guilty of a capital crime may ask for clemency from being executed.
To be "mercy", the behavior generally can not be compelled by outside forces. (A famous literary example is from The Merchant of Venice when Portia asks Shylock to show mercy. He asks, On what compulsion, must I? She responds The quality of mercy is not strained.)
----- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Christianity, divine grace refers to the sovereign favour of God for humankind — especially in regard to salvation — irrespective of actions ("deeds"), earned worth, or proven goodness.
----- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_grace
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The problem with grace and mercy, is that people take it for granted. It is shown to us once, and then we come to expect it. When it is finally taken away, we become indignant and upset.
Have we given any thought to why grace and mercy are extended to us?
Is it because of weakness? They're scared of us - they won't do anything. They're scared of being laughed at by higher-ups - they won't do anything. Those who are Christian aren't supposed to care what the world thinks of them. We have to remember that we don't get our value - our self-worth - from what the world thinks of us. We're not supposed to be of the world, because of this, the world will despise us. The world judges by its own skewed standards.
(I find it disgraceful that the media is trying to convince us that McCain has lost the election, so that their messiah can be elected.)
(McCain '08 The slightly lesser - but still lesser - of two evils)
Maybe grace and mercy are extended to us because we're being protected from something... God extends grace and mercy so we can escape Hell. Maybe non-Christians are just "paying it forward", or they just feel like it. (Can the unsaved truly know what grace and mercy are?) Maybe Christians are trying to practice what they preach...
One day it ends. The events involved with the End of Times occurs in Christian Theology. Procedures and protocols are trampled over in the human world.
Comments? Questions?
Thinly veiled message? I went to Walmart a while back and bought a pair of 13W boots. They felt good when I put them on. (The 12W I had to soften and stretch before wearing.) Now, my toes have the sides pushed out, and they fit really well. So... I wear them. Had they been 11W, I wouldn't wear them - because they wouldn't fit...
I write as much for myself as anyone else. The whole removing the plank thing... :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
