I sat in the room, nervous. I had sensed this moment coming all week. Though I felt a small comfort and peace, deep inside, I was terrified. I was bracing for the letdown—far from my first. I made small talk with someone twenty years my junior, knowing that soon, he would ask me to step down. That reality was hard to face. My mind drifted back to my first year as a deputy. I had called my father repeatedly, distressed over my fifth write-up. Each time, he told me to thank them for the discipline, not to quit, and to keep my head up. But I was overcome with sorrow. I felt like a failure. Maybe I could earn straight A’s, but I had no common sense. I feared I would never catch on. I was beginning to give up. Still, my dad insisted I keep going. In my first week alone, I had discharged my weapon—firing over sixteen rounds at a bull on Super Bowl Sunday. Not long after, I found myself in a full-blown foot pursuit of an escapee, my face, mostly pride battered from the struggle. My track...
Valentine’s Day is approaching. It’s easy to love those who are kind to us, but what about those who are cruel? How do we love a bully? It takes a conscious effort to show kindness to someone who has deeply hurt us. But when we learn to love even those who have wronged us—without waiting for an apology—we are truly attacking the heart . This kind of love isn’t normal. It’s outrageous. It means wiping the slate clean, deleting the post , starting over—not for ourselves, but to please God. That’s it. We know that God has forgiven our wickedness, so why can’t we forgive others? This is a love that brings true reward. We often think we practice this kind of love, but do we really? The next time someone enters a room—the very person you’d rather avoid—what will you do? What if God led you to walk up to them and bless them? Would you do it for Jesus? The Cost of Heartache We demand payment for heartaches. We take people to court, punish, divorce, fight, and even kill over them. This has been...