That's kind of what I said in the Commentary, Phil, about David's quote:
"It's better to fall into the hands of GOD than the hands of man."  Not that
it's any consolation but we've all been through the mill with family
members, I think, some more than others.  Nothing different than David and
Joseph had to handle, though.  GOD got them through and He can get us
through, too.

Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 11:23 AM
Subject: When Push Comes To Shove


> I would like to think, being the fine Godly Christian man that I am,
tongue
> in cheek, that I would always do the right thing and always make the right
> decisions when faced with any circumstance that comes my way.  Yet, I have
> not always made the right decision and I definitely have not always acted
> Christian when faced with certain situations.  We are in the midst of a
huge
> family mess right now in which accusations have been made that are totally
> false.  It would appear that no matter how much explanations were made,
the
> misunderstanding wants to stay in place.  For example, last night I was
> accused of something I not only never thought but never even said.
> Unfortunately for me, one thing I hate more than any other, is being
accused
> falsely and especially of something, as I said, I never even thought, let
> alone said.  My reaction?  It wasn't anything remotely Christian in
nature;
> I can tell you that much for sure and it wasn't pretty.  The experience
> Kathy mentioned earlier about something one of her children turned and
used
> against her?  What she described is small potatoes when compared to what I
> am talking about.  I would explain it all to you, that is, the story and
all
> that has happened, but it would take days to read that email message if I
> did write it all down.  Plus, it hasn't happened once but dozens of times.
> Regardless, my point stands.  We can talk Christian all we want and tote
the
> big black Bible to church every Sunday and say Amen in the appropriate
> places and sing at the top of our lungs and shake the preacher's hand on
the
> way out the door but let somebody, your own family for example, accuse you
> and use you and then say it is all your fault when you have literally done
> absolutely nothing, then let me know how you reacted to what happened.
You
> may say you know what's right and you may believe it with all your heart
and
> you may fully intend to always do what's right but watch one of your own
> children accuse and misuse his own mother and then turn around and blame
her
> for the whole thing, and see how calmly your Christian character comes
into
> play.  I have been blind for 39 years.  I have lived totally on my own,
> without my family's help, for 32 of those 39 years.  I have been accused
of
> everything, during those years, by family members, and others outside the
> family, of being bitter, of feeling sorry for myself, of being too narrow
> minded, of being a liar, of being insensitive, of being too sensitive, of
> being lazy, of being unchristian, and just about anything else you want to
> toss on to the pile.  That was just my family.  I won't even get into
people
> outside the family and what they have said.  The nature of such
> relationships is such that these things create pain and anger and
sometimes
> fear and a lot of other things.  Being the fine Christians that we are, we
> bury these things because Godly people do exactly that.  Or so we are
taught
> to live.  Unfortunately, repressing and suppressing these things doesn't
> help because years later, when another conflict arises, it stirs up those
> old memories and flames them right back into life again.  I know because I
> have had this happen to me so many times over the years, there is no way
to
> keep track of them all.  I know one thing for sure; they all hurt.  Have
you
> ever tried to get somebody to understand something only to discover they
not
> only did not understand or comprehend but didn't want to in the first
place?
> I explained something three or four times to someone last night who still
> said he didn't get it.  Why?  Because if he said he understood it, he
would
> have been wrong and he did not want to be wrong.  Christmas is a wonderful
> family trigger.  If you don't think the Enemy works overtime during the
> Christmas season, you are in for a surprise.  I would love to say
something
> about this time concerning demonic activities in such things but people
> already think I am a devil hunter and find a demon under every rock.  So I
> will forego the spiritual darkness behind all such conflicts.  Regardless,
> I'm just pointing out that any situation can press a Christian into
reacting
> and responding in ways they wouldn't normally.  I'm sure glad we serve a
God
> who cuts us a lot of slack because people don't.
>
> Phil.