Column by Robyn Honeycut

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Columns | Send mail to The Voice Don't let your past haunt you Tears flowed as we embraced our parents and whispered goodbye. Hot summer winds swept across the Oklahoma plains as we began the 2,000-mile journey north in 1987. Our family was lured to Portland by the promise, "If it's Bible you want, then you want Multnomah!" Young and naïve, we knew little except that we wanted Bible more than anything else. We had no idea that God had so much more to teach us. Of course, we learned theology while at MBC, but more importantly, the professors and Multnomah family modeled Christian living when we desperately needed an example. Last Sunday, my husband, Bill, returned to Oklahoma. Seventeen years had passed quickly, and our parents have grown old. He returned to a world we left behind, this time to take care of his mom as she fights her battle with cancer. The hometown Methodist church offered him fellowship even though he had never sought it as a young person. Mrs. Ellick, the mother of Bill's high school friend, did not recognize him at church. "You look familiar," she said. "Do you know the Honeycutt boy who used to play basketball?" Bill replied, "That's me." She persisted, "No, I mean the younger one." Bill said, "I am the younger one!" Finally convinced, she continued, "I will always remember that tournament where you lost your temper and were kicked out." Another man joined in: "Who would have thought it? Here's one of those bad Honeycutt boys in church!" Does the boy who played in that basketball game 26 years ago still exist? Is he the man I'm married to? In the words of Paul, "May it never be!" I have had the amazing privilege of watching God transform Bill's life. Rarely do I stop to remember the demons of his past and the ways they have tormented us. God doesn't, and I don't give myself permission to. Not everyone can put 2,000 miles between his past and his present. Even the sins we succumb to as Christians often return to bite us. We can forget, forgive and offer each other ways to be redeemed. The greatest way we can show love to each other is to "let it go." According to God, new mercy is available every day. Our screw-ups and stupidity of yesterday are not what he thinks about. Why should we? Let it go. Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Columns | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2004 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.