Sermon Central
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J. R. Packard Wrote A Short Story Entitled, "The ...
Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 18, 2007 (message contributor)
J. R. Packard wrote a short story entitled, "The Trouble Is." In that story there is one very moving scene. A riot is in progress with blacks & whites fighting each other. The mother of the little black boy who is telling this story has been hurt. Her family has just gone down & picked her up off the ground & carried her upstairs & placed her in bed.
Now, the little black boy is standing by the window with his grandmother watching what is going on below. As they watch the fighting they notice a white boy running away from a group of blacks. It seems that he’ll get away until he makes a fatal mistake. He turns down their alley, not knowing that it is a dead end. Too late, he realizes his mistake & he turns with a look of horror on his face towards the black youths who are coming after him.
As the little boy watches, he sees a door open below & his grandmother standing there beckoning the white boy to escape through the open door. The little boy says, "At first I was glad because my grandmother had opened the door so the white boy could escape. Then I remembered my mother bleeding & suffering on the bed, & that white people had done that to her. Then I was angry at my grandmother for opening the door."
He goes on, "The trouble is that when people hate each other, the people who are the objects of the hate want to hate the people who hate them, & hurt the people who hurt them, & insult the people who insult them. Soon we find ourselves in a vicious cycle of hating, hurting, & insulting. And nobody opens the door. So we just keep on hurting & hating & insulting." Melvin Newland @sermoncentral.com
Are there some doors you need to open in your life? Life is too short to live with anger, hate, bitterness, and depression.
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