Topics:<\/b> Anger; Bitterness; Enemies; Family; Fathers; Forgiveness; Grudges; Hatred; Love; Malice; Murder; Resentment; Revenge; Self-control; Violence<\/p>\n
References:<\/b> Exodus 20:13; Romans 12:19; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:13; Hebrews 10:30; 12:15; 1 John 2:9; 3:15<\/p>\n
Rick Garmon\u2019s daughter, Katie, was date-raped in 2002 when she was age eighteen and a freshman in college. Too humiliated to speak about what had happened to anyone\u2014even her family\u2014Katie switched schools and attempted to move on with her life.<\/p>\n
Over the next fourteen months, Katie withdrew from her family and friends. She developed an eating disorder and began losing weight. Finally confronted by her mother, Katie confessed the truth. A year of fervent prayer and therapy finally helped Katie to overcome the pain and return to a normal life.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Katie\u2019s father was battling the desire to avenge his daughter\u2019s rape. He even developed a plan to kill the man who had so deeply wounded his daughter. He, too, pulled away from everyone as he plotted how he\u2019d drive through the college campus, sit in the parking lot with his rifle until the rapist walked by, and then shoot him.<\/p>\n
One weekend when Katie was home, he retreated from her pain by going to the basement to clean his gun. His son Thomas came downstairs and asked, \u201cWhatcha doin\u2019, Dad? Can I help ya clean? You goin\u2019 huntin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n
The father didn\u2019t respond. When he looked at Thomas, the boy\u2019s eyes brimmed with tears. He knows. Dear God, I think my son knows my plan,<\/i> the father thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome here, boy. Give your daddy a hug,\u201d Rick Garmon said. When Thomas wrapped his arms around him, the father realized that the boy\u2019s love was somehow stronger than his hatred. \u201cHis hug began to crumble my rage like a sledgehammer breaking a wall,\u201d the father said. \u201cChip by chip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locking the gun in the cabinet, Rick Garmon made a choice to forgive the man who had harmed his daughter.<\/p>\n
\u2014Based on Rick Garmon, \u201cMy Secret Hate,\u201d Today\u2019s Christian<\/i> (May\u2013June 2006)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Topics: Anger; Bitterness; Enemies; Family; Fathers; Forgiveness; Grudges; Hatred; Love; Malice; Murder; Resentment; Revenge; Self-control; Violence References: Exodus 20:13; Romans 12:19; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:13; Hebrews 10:30; 12:15; 1 John 2:9; 3:15 Rick Garmon\u2019s daughter, Katie, was date-raped in 2002 when she was age eighteen and a freshman in college. Too humiliated to speak about … Continue reading “LOVING
\n AWAY RAGE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}