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Speaker 1: Hates Errol. I'm a poet, one that just happens to

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write in a forest. As of late, I've been called

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to a very special collection of trees at the Billy

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Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. I never know what

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I'm going to write about when I step into the forest,

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nor do I know what I've written about until this

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moment right here, which gives us plenty of time to

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talk about it at the end. These are not my words.

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These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter ninety December seventh,

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twenty seventeen. I've been called to this place in the forest. Obviously,

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God has been listening to my heart and has grabbed

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me by the nap of my neck and said, dude,

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come on, let's talk. The forest is filled with change.

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December has given it an ill feeling. It's damp and

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quite cold, and yet I hear the constant chirping from

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the birds nearby. They're communicating through this winter rest kind

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of moment. The once bright leaves of yellow, orange, and

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red lay like blankets on the forest floor. I find

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that to be inspiring. There's never really truly a departure here,

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is there? The leaves will warm the roots during the

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cold days, then break down into food and feed those

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trees with energy. How much of us does the same

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And do we go into it without having a reason

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or have to pay somebody back? We are the society

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that wants to own everything, no matter who brought the

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art to life. It doesn't belong to the creative person,

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but instead the rich with their own famous ways. How

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can we grow from this age of mind? All mine?

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And yet in this age we're seeing a lot of

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top dogs falling from grace. A friend of value once

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said to me during my humble days, that struck me

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pretty hard. During your humble days, I didn't realize it

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was a dot on a calendar. I could just hear

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their hearts say. I was one humble, But now that

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I've got everything, nothing's going to get in my way.

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I don't want to ask who are we? There are

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one thousand answers waiting to describe the actions and reactions

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delivered by the leaves falling from our personal trees. Wasted

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are not the days, only the ways that people are

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treating each other. So let's talk. One of my all

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time favorite Bible verses and stories is basically like what

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is going on in the present place, that we have

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been given a beautiful picture to live, and yet we

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as human beings, are not allowing the beauty of the

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art to shine through. But it reminds me so much

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of John eight verses one through eleven. Jesus returned to

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the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he

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was back again at the temple. The crowd had gathered

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and they had approached Jesus, and they said that they

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had caught this woman that was committing adultery. And they

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looked at Jesus and said that, hey, look this woman.

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She's been caught. The law of Moses says that we

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are to stone her. What do you say, Well, what

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happened was is that Jesus himself knew exactly that he

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needed to locate peace in his heart. And here's why

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I became a daily writer. It's the very thing that

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Jesus did. Next, they were trying to trap him into

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saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped

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down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They

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kept demanding an answer, So Jesus stood up again and said,

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all right, but let the one who was never sinned

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throw the first stone. Then Jesus stooped down again and

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wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they

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slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until

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only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd

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with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said

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to the woman, where are your accusers? Didn't even one

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of them condemn you? No Lord, she said, and Jesus said,

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neither do I go and sin no more. This is

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a very powerful moment in Biblical history as well as

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current world history. We have become this society that believes

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that we should air everybody's dirty laundry, be it on Facebook, Twitter,

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or even Instagram. We just pour it out there. And

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the sad part about it is is that our empty

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hearts and souls allow all us being poured to fill

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us up, and we believe what it is that has

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been shared, when in fact, has it ever ever taken place.

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It was just somebody's thoughts. So and in reality, as

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a writer and inside that forest, I did question the

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friend of value who said that during their humble times,

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during their humble day, this is the way life used

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to be. And I questioned that, and I really felt

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there was pain in that situation. But at the same time,

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instead of bringing judgment against that person, which I have not,

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I have chosen to hear more from that person because

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I think the words could have been out of place,

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And rather than holding on to a moment where I

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was questioning the presence of their decision to use those words,

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I have stood back and watched that wait wait, wait,

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wait wait. Being humble is there every day. But I

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didn't want to be the one that was going to

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throw the stone in that moment, And that was the

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reason why I sat back and watched and chose to

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take my time in trying to figure out where they

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were standing inside that forest during their humble days. What

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happened was it was a misplacement of words. They just

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didn't go back and correct those words. And I think

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maybe the lesson learned here is is that when God

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puts things on your lips and it doesn't come out right,

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correct it, because what you're presenting to a lot of

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people may not be the peace that Jesus found when

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he sat down and he stooped down to that dirt

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and wrote words out. I wish I could have been

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a witness on that day, because I would have documented

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in my daily writing the exact words that Jesus wrote,

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because he knew of the bad characters that were standing

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all around him, and yet what he wrote put words

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of peace inside his soul, and he was able to

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develop a peaceful way out of a situation of judgment.

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Maybe that's a cue for you that, maybe when things

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don't go right for you, instead of sharply judging somebody,

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find your own little dirt patch, or find a book

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and put it down in thought and see if it

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really is worth the weight that you're about ready to

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put on a lot of souls. Are you so willing

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to throw that stone? I'm Eryl. These are not my words.

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These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest.