Speaker 1: Hates Errol. I'm a poet, one that just happens to
write in a forest. As of late, I've been called
to a very special collection of trees at the Billy
Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. I never know what
I'm going to write about when I step into the forest,
nor do I know what I've written about until this
moment right here, which gives us plenty of time to
talk about it at the end. These are not my words.
These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter ninety December seventh,
twenty seventeen. I've been called to this place in the forest. Obviously,
God has been listening to my heart and has grabbed
me by the nap of my neck and said, dude,
come on, let's talk. The forest is filled with change.
December has given it an ill feeling. It's damp and
quite cold, and yet I hear the constant chirping from
the birds nearby. They're communicating through this winter rest kind
of moment. The once bright leaves of yellow, orange, and
red lay like blankets on the forest floor. I find
that to be inspiring. There's never really truly a departure here,
is there? The leaves will warm the roots during the
cold days, then break down into food and feed those
trees with energy. How much of us does the same
And do we go into it without having a reason
or have to pay somebody back? We are the society
that wants to own everything, no matter who brought the
art to life. It doesn't belong to the creative person,
but instead the rich with their own famous ways. How
can we grow from this age of mind? All mine?
And yet in this age we're seeing a lot of
top dogs falling from grace. A friend of value once
said to me during my humble days, that struck me
pretty hard. During your humble days, I didn't realize it
was a dot on a calendar. I could just hear
their hearts say. I was one humble, But now that
I've got everything, nothing's going to get in my way.
I don't want to ask who are we? There are
one thousand answers waiting to describe the actions and reactions
delivered by the leaves falling from our personal trees. Wasted
are not the days, only the ways that people are
treating each other. So let's talk. One of my all
time favorite Bible verses and stories is basically like what
is going on in the present place, that we have
been given a beautiful picture to live, and yet we
as human beings, are not allowing the beauty of the
art to shine through. But it reminds me so much
of John eight verses one through eleven. Jesus returned to
the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he
was back again at the temple. The crowd had gathered
and they had approached Jesus, and they said that they
had caught this woman that was committing adultery. And they
looked at Jesus and said that, hey, look this woman.
She's been caught. The law of Moses says that we
are to stone her. What do you say, Well, what
happened was is that Jesus himself knew exactly that he
needed to locate peace in his heart. And here's why
I became a daily writer. It's the very thing that
Jesus did. Next, they were trying to trap him into
saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped
down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They
kept demanding an answer, So Jesus stood up again and said,
all right, but let the one who was never sinned
throw the first stone. Then Jesus stooped down again and
wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they
slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until
only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd
with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said
to the woman, where are your accusers? Didn't even one
of them condemn you? No Lord, she said, and Jesus said,
neither do I go and sin no more. This is
a very powerful moment in Biblical history as well as
current world history. We have become this society that believes
that we should air everybody's dirty laundry, be it on Facebook, Twitter,
or even Instagram. We just pour it out there. And
the sad part about it is is that our empty
hearts and souls allow all us being poured to fill
us up, and we believe what it is that has
been shared, when in fact, has it ever ever taken place.
It was just somebody's thoughts. So and in reality, as
a writer and inside that forest, I did question the
friend of value who said that during their humble times,
during their humble day, this is the way life used
to be. And I questioned that, and I really felt
there was pain in that situation. But at the same time,
instead of bringing judgment against that person, which I have not,
I have chosen to hear more from that person because
I think the words could have been out of place,
And rather than holding on to a moment where I
was questioning the presence of their decision to use those words,
I have stood back and watched that wait wait, wait,
wait wait. Being humble is there every day. But I
didn't want to be the one that was going to
throw the stone in that moment, And that was the
reason why I sat back and watched and chose to
take my time in trying to figure out where they
were standing inside that forest during their humble days. What
happened was it was a misplacement of words. They just
didn't go back and correct those words. And I think
maybe the lesson learned here is is that when God
puts things on your lips and it doesn't come out right,
correct it, because what you're presenting to a lot of
people may not be the peace that Jesus found when
he sat down and he stooped down to that dirt
and wrote words out. I wish I could have been
a witness on that day, because I would have documented
in my daily writing the exact words that Jesus wrote,
because he knew of the bad characters that were standing
all around him, and yet what he wrote put words
of peace inside his soul, and he was able to
develop a peaceful way out of a situation of judgment.
Maybe that's a cue for you that, maybe when things
don't go right for you, instead of sharply judging somebody,
find your own little dirt patch, or find a book
and put it down in thought and see if it
really is worth the weight that you're about ready to
put on a lot of souls. Are you so willing
to throw that stone? I'm Eryl. These are not my words.
These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest.