You can forgive

Camille H. MacKusick

Paul and Jon were best friends. They had played together since before they started school. Now Jon was in second grade and Paul in first, so they didn't see each other much until after school. Then they played outside together with a lot of their friends on the block. Sometimes they played capture the flag or tag, but most of the time it was rough-and-tumble stuff, laughing, yelling, and running around—just having fun.

But one day things got a little too rough. Jon got really angry. He grabbed Paul by the hair. That hurt a lot, and Paul ran inside crying. He was angry and confused. Paul almost felt like hating Jon.

Dad was in the house and heard all the commotion. He was used to the wrestling and noise that went on with Paul and his friends. But this was different. Jon and Paul had gone beyond play and hard knocks that no one meant. Somehow they were now on a level of anger and hurt. This had to have attention, and in Paul's family that meant prayer.

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