Pastor Harry Zurasky
Pastor Harry is our local pastor. He is a kind man with a spirit driven love for the community. He teaches us that God's greatest commandment is that we should love one another as Christ loves us. As you can see from the photo, he practices his own teachings when it comes to his family.
This is Pastor Harry and his wonder wife Ann
Pastor Harry and Grandchildren
This was posted on Pastor Harry's Facebook Page
An Educatorโs Reflection
I have been debating with myself for quite a while as to whether I should write and post my feelings. I see all these posts and I wonder, do they really do any good. But in the end, I feel the spirit moving me to try. Even if it does nothing but to let me vest so be it. But my prayer is that others read and consider this, and in so doing are willing to start working together to find ways in which we can live in the way Christ has called all believers.
I worked as an educator for 37 years. And in that time, there were many times where I was called to be a mediator between two students. For whatever reason these two individuals had reached a point where they entered some form or another of confrontation that must be addressed. It was amazing that as you listened to both individuals you understood that both believed that they were absolutely justified in their stance and the adversary was completely and totally at fault. As they told you the circumstances, their story was shaded in a way to prove their side of the argument. They were not lying but truly believed it to be the absolute truth.
As I would listen to both individuals as a neutral observer, I would soon discover that the real story was somewhere between their versions. Neither of them was completely right nor completely wrong. Each person was justified in some ways while convicted in others. I am not saying that blame was equal but that there were mistakes made by both. In order to work to some resolution of the conflict I had to get each individual to first admit where they made mistakes. As long as they were not able to critically view their own actions and take responsibility for them, it was nearly impossible see a way forward out of the conflict. Once they made this realization, however, then each could start to see a way forward.
I am writing this because this is what I see in our society today. Each side of the political spectrum is so busy proving why their side is perfectly right and the other is perfectly wrong. Even to the point of saying that our opponents are evil and must therefore be destroyed. We will never as a society grow from this point until we do just like the students that I worked with. We must first be willing to find the errors in our own beliefs. No human is perfectly right. Scripture tells us about this best in ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฐ ๐:๐ โ ๐:โฃ
โฃ
๐ โ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซโ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฒ๐? ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ, โ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ฒ๐,โ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฒ๐? ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฉ๐จ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐, ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซโ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐.
To my Christian brothers and sisters, I challenge you critically look at your views and measure them against the teachings of Jesus. I challenge you treat all others with dignity and respect. Jesus taught that we were not only to love our friends but our enemies as well. He said that we were to live in peace with others loving them as God loves us, so that we glorify God not only in words but more importantly in the way we live, reflecting that love to all.
