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At the peak of my career, a five-man political body fired me. The deciding vote to fire me was cast by a man I had befriended and supported for many years. I went on TV and had some choice remarks to make about him. The head of the body had promised to give my job to this man’s closest personal and political friend and he did. Feeling my name had been dragged in the mud, I decided to run for the head position on that political body. I was elected and the man who voted to fire me was re-elected. He immediately threw a big party at his beautiful farm for everyone who got elected -- everyone except me. He had hurt me I had retaliated so strongly that I could see our relationship was going to be stormy. It concerned me because our county was going through hard times and we needed every elected person to be pulling on the rope. I talked to him shortly after our election and apologized for the things I had said about him and expressed my desire to have peace with him. I told him the county needed both of us to get moving again. I told him we would make a great team and could do great things for the people. He remained cold toward me. I talked to him again to no avail. One morning I knew he was going to have open-heart surgery. I called his hospital room and told him I would be praying for him. I said, “That may not mean much to you but my mother will also be praying for you and I assure you, that will do you a lot of good.” When he healed from the surgery he came to my office and said, “You have tried over and over to make peace with me but I just couldn’t do it until now. When you called the hospital, it meant so much to me. I’m ready to work with you and I want us to be friends like we were long ago.” We shook hands and hugged and even cried a little. He was the most experienced politician on our governing body and was instrumental in getting many important projects approved. I do not recall that we ever had another serious disagreement. We worked together until his health broke and he had to retire. While I rejoiced over the public good we were able to accomplish by mending our friendship, the personal pleasure in being friends again was an even greater fulfillment. When you lose a longtime friend, it leaves a big hole in your heart. When you recapture them from the jaws of revenge and retaliation, the rush of peace heals the hole so love can fill it to overflowing. I think I know how the father felt in the parable of the prodigal son when he saw his son “afar off” and knew he was coming home. When I saw this dear brother had come to restore our friendship, I felt like the father when he ran to meet his son. A renewed friendship is so satisfying. I thought about all the years we could have been working together and enjoying our friendship. If you find yourself in this situation, claim the promise of the prophet Joel who said, “I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten.” The first time I read Joel’s words I thought, “That’s ridiculous. The past is dead and gone. You cannot restore it.” But in God’s time, there’s no past, present or future. God does not wear a wristwatch. You can actually heal the present so well that it spills over and heals the past. There’s some kind of magic in Joel’s words. They have helped me reclaim many little seemingly lost pieces of my past. Making peace with my old political buddy was just one of them and I thank God.
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