I won some tickets to the Gerald R. Ford Museum recently and we went down on a Monday to check it out.  It is a very interesting place if you are a fan of history and the details of people’s lives.  Not every person in my little entourage was as impressed as I was but she (oops, I mean this person) was a good sport.  One of the more fascinating displays contained letters from people around the country addressed to President Ford that he received after he pardoned Richard Nixon.  Some people were thanking him but many of the letters were quite disturbing.  Isn’t it odd that we love to be pardoned but we don’t really care for it when it comes to pardoning others?  To be forgiven is one of the great gifts of life.  To hear the words, “I forgive you” is like cold water on a hot day.  It is a cool breeze in the desert.  I have heard those words from people in my past and felt a burden lifted.  I also am waiting to hear those words from others and I am sad.  There is little in life that is as painful as hearing someone say, “I will never forgive you.”  In our text for this coming Sunday we’ll be considering the paragraph in which Jesus declared that there is an “unpardonable sin.”  To think that there is something that God would never forgive is a frightening thought indeed.  I’ll do more explaining (Lord willing) on Sunday but until then, let me just assure you, if you are worried that you may have committed this sin, you haven’t.  Your concern for your soul and desire to have relationship with God is the evidence of life.  God patiently awaits our plea, “Pardon me.”