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I read recently how a well-known television circus show developed a Bengal tiger act that was performed live before a large audience. One evening, the tiger trainer went into the cage with several tigers to do a routine performance. The door was locked behind him.

Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, a well-known preacher in the twentieth century, said that once, when he was a high school student, he had a very difficult examination. But he had discovered that verse, "And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do...."

A few years ago one of my best friends was cut down in the prime of life. He was only forty-something. His doctors gave him only a matter of months to live. His passing was a shock and a sad loss for many of us. One of the last things my friend said to me before he died was how much he regretted not being able to do some important things he planned on doing. "And now it is too late," he said.

A Native American boy was talking with his grandfather. "What do you think about the world situation?" he asked. The grandfather replied, "I feel like two wolves are fighting in my heart. One is full of anger and hatred. The other is full of love, forgiveness and peace."

Do you know that sometimes the best thing you can do for a hurting person is to just be there?

Dr. Paige Patterson tells how the renown African-American singer, Ethel Waters, known for her ministry with Billy Graham Crusades, learned about life the hard way. Ethel said that, as a child, she always felt lost and like an outsider.

Following a series of Daily Encounters on "Forgiveness," a number of readers wanted to know if forgiving another person meant that we have to forget what has happened; or to love and stay with them if they are abusive; or to trust them?

Max Lucado tells how, in 1989, a terrible earthquake in Armenia killed 30,000 people. Among those uninjured were a man and his wife. Their son was in an elementary school that collapsed. The father rushed to the school. He had always told Armon that he would come for him if he was ever in trouble. He worked intensely removing debris trying to find Armon and after thirty-eight hours he heard his child's voice and with the help of other workers freed Armon and the other children.

Perhaps you or someone you know has gone through all the "forgiveness steps" we have written about over the past few days but still can't find it in their heart to forgive someone who has hurt them deeply.

Some time ago in an article in Time2 inspired by Pope John Paul's forgiveness of his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, journalist Lance Morrow wrote, "The psychological case for forgiveness is overwhelmingly persuasive. Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.

Some time ago in an article in Time2 inspired by Pope John Paul's forgiveness of his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, journalist Lance Morrow wrote, "The psychological case for forgiveness is overwhelmingly persuasive. Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.

A Daily Encounter reader writes, "As Christians we are told not to judge others. However, we are also told not to cast our pearls before swine. Does that not involve a judgment? This has always confused me."

Terry Austin of Dallas, Texas, tells about Bert Frizen who, in 1944, "was an infantryman on the front line in Europe. American forces had advanced in the face of intermittent shelling and small-arms fire throughout the morning hours, but now all was quiet. His patrol reached the edge of a wooded area with an open field before them. Unknown to the Americans, a battery of Germans waited in a hedgerow about two hundred yards across the field.

Some years ago during a visit to Yellowstone Park, one writer observed that the only animal that the grizzly bear would share his food with was a skunk. It wasn't that the grizzly wanted to share his food but rather that he chose to. With one swing of his powerful paw he could have crushed the skunk. So why did he allow the skunk to eat with him?

"I am having trouble forgiving someone," writes a Daily Encounter reader. "It was a horrible thing this person did to me. She hasn't apologized and acts as if everything is normal. I am filled with resentment and hatred. What this person did cannot be fixed. I want so bad to resolve my feelings, but don't know what to do to get over what happened."

One thing is certain, God will do for us what we are not able to do for ourselves (that's why he sent Jesus to die in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins), but he won't do for us what we are quite capable of doing and need to do ourselves.

As a general rule, loved people love people and hurt people hurt people. And angry people, besides angering other people, are constantly looking for pegs on which to hanger their anger.

"A man was criticized for failing to provide for his family. Times were hard. He couldn't find a job so he decided to go into the fish business.