Regrets? I've had a few

but then again, too few to mention. (Insert the sound of screeching brakes and hysterical laughter here). The down and dirty fact of life is that everyone makes mistakes. Everyone makes LOTS of mistakes and everyone does stupid things that we later wish we could erase. The thing is, most of those stupid things are done privately so everyone else doesn't know about them.

On the other hand though, are those totally boneheaded things that we do publicly. The things that have far reaching effects on a lot of people. The things that when they are done can't be undone just by wishing it were so.

Right now we have a friend who is in a situation that falls smack into the "what have I done" category. His actions will affect every aspect of his life - his family, those he counts as family, his job, his responsibilities at church and how he is viewed by others.

It's the "how he is viewed by others" that I want to write about. By this "other", he is viewed as a man who made a mistake. True, it was a doozy, but it doesn't change who he is. It doesn't define his life and the kind of man he is. He is still the same man he was 2 days ago.

A man who loves God. A man who loves his family. A man who has welcomed both family members and total strangers to live in his home in their time of need. A man who works hard to provide for his family. A man who will help anyone on a moment's notice. A man who loves to have fun and who is loved by everyone who knows him. A man who I respect and one who I am proud to be counted as one of his friends.

So to all his family, please know that our family loves you and we are in prayer for your family.

Matthew 7: 1 -5

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.