WEBVTT

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Day 294, or October the 21st. Don't take them

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for granted. Our thoughts today are rooted in

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Luke chapter 15, verse 29. But he answered his

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father, Look, all these years I've been slaving

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for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet

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you never gave me even a young goat, so I could

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celebrate with my friends. And now the big picture

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surrounding this verse. We are fast approaching

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the final days in the early life of Jesus, and

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my Bible's pages are still predominantly red

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to remind me that they contain the actual words

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of Jesus. They include many of his most beautiful

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parables, and perhaps his most famous one, the

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prodigal son. This was taught on the east side

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of the Jordan, so that when Jesus talks about

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a far -off distant land, he would have simply

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pointed north to the region of Decapolis, near

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the Sea of Galilee, where they bred pigs. If

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you recall, Jesus caused a mass suicide leap

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in a herd of pigs here, when he drove out evil

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spirits from a man and they fled into nearby

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pigs. Actually, they still breed pigs in Israel

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today, as many Jews do not obey the kosher laws

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of the Torah. I never thought I would ever eat

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a bacon sandwich in Israel, but I have. And now

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the action step for today. The prodigal son parable

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tends to concentrate on the son, but the real

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star is the father, who loves him so much, he

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is willing to forgive him and welcome him back

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into the family. Many believe the parable should

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be called the forgiving father, as it is such

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a wonderful picture of God in heaven, forgiving

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his errant children, who finally have the sense

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to turn to him in their hour of need. However,

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I believe we also have much to learn from the

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older brother of the prodigal, the faithful one,

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who has continued to do the right thing and feels

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aggrieved that his father seems to be taking

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him for granted. This is a reminder for all of

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us never to take those we love for granted. Don't

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follow the father's example or that of the prodigal's

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brother. Tell those you love that you love them,

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now. Don't keep it a secret.