FORGIVEN

This is from June 6, 2008:

I have a vision of my life. I see it as a book that, up until this point, is unfinished. I see my life being written every day in the things I do, the places I go, and the thoughts I think. I like to think of my life as a book that is in progress because it makes me feel like there’s some events that I can’t wait to experience ahead of me. I see it as a book that’s not typical to the local library, school, or even one that is being written to be different than any book ever written. I see my life, and others’ lives as well, as books that are being written and corrected at the same time. I would imagine books go through a process of being written, edited, revised, edited again, revised again, and eventually published and released. But my life-book is full of every aspect of my life, from thoughts to words to actions, even details that I’d rather have stay private or undisclosed. But a strange thing continues to happen as I write, or moreover live, this book. Each time I do wrong, each time I sin, there is a peculiar thing that takes place. I envision my life’s book having the wrongs I’ve done covered in a stamp, by God of course, which simply says, “FORGIVEN”. Each time I have lied, each time I have forgotten that I’m forgiven and don’t live like it, each time I come across a frustrating situation and say something completely out of line, it’s written, but covered by a stamp inked with Christ’s blood and each day my wrongs are covered, they are FORGIVEN. Each day the stamp wears a little, and over these 26 years to this point, the stamp has become quite ragged from the repeated uses each day. I envision the stamp, although still readable, to look like the tattoo I chose to get on my wrist. It’s still readable, but you can tell that it’s been used quite a bit. It’s been used to cover my wrongs because it speaks truth through the missing pieces from years of day in – day out usage correcting the areas of my life that shouldn’t be there. I can still make out the words underneath, because I have memory of the events, but as God looks through my life-book, he simply sees where I’ve lived righteously and he sees the FORGIVEN stamp. My tattoo represents what the message of this vision is, that my book is covered with forgiveness from the blood of my glorious Christ Jesus!