prone |prōn|
adjective
1 [ predic. ] ( prone to/prone to do something) likely to or liable to suffer from, do, or experience something, typically something regrettable or unwelcome : years of logging had left the mountains prone to mudslides | he is prone to jump to conclusions.
2 lying flat, esp. face downward : I was lying prone on a foam mattress | a prone position.
• technical denoting the position of the forearm with the palm of the hand facing downward.
3 archaic with a downward slope or direction.

We are prone to sin because we are sinners at heart. Our inclination is to sin and orient our lives in a downward direction (so to speak picking up on the third definition).

Jim

Needless to say when I ran across this article about forgiveness in Rwanda, I felt compelled to read it. My jaw nearly hit the floor. A woman named Iphigenia Mukantabana, sits with her friend, yes friend, Epiphania Mukanyndwi and the two women weave baskets together. The kicker is that it was Ephiphania’s husband, Jean-Bosco Bizimana, who slaughtered Iphigenia’s husband and children during the genocide. Yet Iphigenia has chosen to not only forgive the Ephiphania and Jean-Bosco but they are now good friends and share family meals together. For as forgiving as I like to think I am and try to be, this woman’s ability to not only forgive the man who killed her entire family, but to share a meal with him and his wife as her friends, puts me to shame. Yet in a way it has almost made forgiveness come a little easier lately because when I want to be cold, stubborn & unforgiving, this story creeps into my mind and I think, “If Iphigenia could forgive Ephiphania & her husband, then I can forgive so’n’so for (insert relatively minor transgression here), too.”

Here’s the link to the entire story:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/15/amanpour.rwanda/index.html?iref=newssearch

We have almost become addicted to labeling and compartmentalizing others in order to assess ourselves. We don’t even consciously realize that we do this either. It’s considered polite conversation to ask what someone does for a living, where they went to school, their marital status, family status, overall socio-economic status as we look them over and assess their approximate age bracket. Do we really need all these labels for each other and should we being drawing so many conclusions about a person or a group of people because they are asingle, Christian, B.A., Black, Middle Class Millenials or divorced, athiest, PhD, Asian, Upper Middle Class Baby Boomers? Is it really helping us connect with each other or simply magnifying our differences? What happens when the lines we have meticulously drawn begin to blur? I really don’t know.

And how come when you fill out a survey it usually requires you to “Check One” instead of “Check All That Apply”?

You are a blessed man! I am so excited for you! Embrace the journey and enjoy the adventure God has planned for you. We love you!
Laurie