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Vindicated
I had the craziest dream last night. I woke up sweating this morning because it was so intense. I was visiting a small town that I had never been to before because I had discovered that the local college there had some documents that belonged to me hidden away in one of their offices. So I went looking for them. I was very careful in my searching because I knew that they would not just give them to me. My plan was to find the documents and take them before anyone even knew they existed.
I spent a few days getting familiar with the college, talking to professors, making myself visible so that when I did have a chance to take the documents, no one would be suspicious. Then I found what I was looking for. They were hidden in a drawer in one of the professor’s offices. I knew this professor. He happened to be someone from my dark past. How he had my documents, I have no idea, but this was big trouble.
After formulating a plan to break in to this professor’s office and steal them, I set out to do just that. On my sixth day in this small town, late in the evening, I made my move. I told the security guard, whom I had befriended earlier that week, that I was going to the library to finish up some research for a paper I was writing. I had mapped out the entire college, so I knew all the exits and entrances in case I had to make a quick escape.
After spending an hour waiting for the perfect moment, I snuck out of the library and into the hallways. The security guard had just made his rounds, so I had a little while to make my move. I found the office I was looking for, picked the lock and closed the door behind me. I began going through the professor’s files and found the folder I was looking for. I put everything back the way it was, took the documents and went back to the hotel I was staying at.
Back at my hotel room, I was so happy. I felt like I was vindicated from my past. I pulled out the documents to see what all was in there. There were pictures and notes and receipts and papers of all the things I had done in my past. As I was looking through them I started to weep. Did I really do all those things? I really was an evil person. I had to destroy these files because if anyone knew they existed I would be so ashamed.
There was a knock on the door. I panicked. I started shoving everything back in the folder and put it in a desk drawer. I went to the door and there was a police officer waiting for me outside. How did they know? I had been so careful. It turns out that they had security cameras. They had witnesses that saw me break into the office and take the folder. They found fingerprints that belonged to me. I was in a lot of trouble.
They took me away in handcuffs and I was informed through an appointed lawyer that we would go to trial. They found the folder that convicted me of far more than just the breaking in and stealing charges. In my jail cell I found myself crying out to God to help me. I was doomed. All the evidence pointed out that I was guilty.
At the trial a couple days later I rose as the judge entered. The court case had begun. The prosecutor called their first witness, but something had happened so the witness couldn’t make it. They called their next witness, a professional of some sort who would present the evidence in the folder that was sure to condemn me. When he opened the folder, everything inside was faded. The pictures lost their color. The print was unreadable on any of the papers. The video of my breaking in and stealing the folder was erased. The fingerprints somehow no longer matched. After their case had blown up, the judge had nothing left to do but to let me go. I was set free with nothing charged against me.
I woke up sweating. It was a crazy dream, but it reminded me of God’s love for us. We all have a folder full of evil things we’ve done in the past, that if it was opened, we’d all be condemned to hell. We can try ourselves to hide that sin, but no matter how many files and pictures and papers we try to get rid of, on our own we cannot escape our past.
Thanksgiving is next week and the freedom we have in Christ Jesus is the one thing we should be most grateful for. His death on a cross, the shedding of His blood, is the only way any of us can be saved. If we ask Him into our hearts, His blood will cover that evidence held against us. It is only through Jesus that any of us can be “Vindicated”.
Have a great week!!! Make sure and tune in next week for my “Things I’m Thankful For” column. God Bless.
w/muchluv,
geno
WE ARE NOW TAKING SUBMISSIONS FOR MY 2ND ANNUAL “CHRISTMAS MEMORIES” COLUMN. WE HAD A BLAST LAST YEAR READING ALL YOUR GREAT STORIES SO WE’RE GOING TO CONTINUE THAT AGAIN THIS YEAR. EMAIL ME (geno@puthimfirst.com) YOURS TODAY!!!!!!!! DON’T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE? CHECK OUT LAST YEARS “CHRISTMAS MEMORIES” COLUMN IN THE 2007 ARCHIVES.
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