Tag Archives: Bad Day

Devotional

Redeemable?

Leave a comment

Read Romans 8:38-39

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” (Mark 3:28–29 NLT).

Jefferey Dean Morgan as Negan Smith on AMC’s The Walking Dead, Season 6, Episode 16: “The Last Day on Earth”.

As you are about to find out, this week is [un]officially The Walking Dead week here at Life-Giving Water Ministries. Why? Because Season 11 is soooo good so far and I am super stoked after this past week’s episode. Man, it is really, really good and so I have hereby declared this week, in 2021, The Walking Dead week. That has absolutely no bearing on anything, and probably will be forgotten about beyond this week, but today I bring to you another TWD-themed message.

My favorite character in The Walking Dead is a man by the name of Negan. For anyone who has watched the show and knows who Negan is, you might be wondering what on earth I drank or smoke prior to writing this. For those of you who are wondering how to even pronounce NEGAN (for your reference, Nee-gan) and have no clue who he is, let’s just say that his story on the show has a less than pleasant beginning.

！SPOILER ALERT！ Let me warn you now, there will be some spoilers in this so if you have any interest watching the show someday, you might want to stop reading now and come back to this when you’re ready. We first meet Negan as the leader of the Saviors, a group who are 150,000% dedicated to their leader. In fact, this is so much the case that when anyone asks “who’s Negan”, they will rise up and each of them say, “I am Negan”, in order to protect him. Why? Because, though he’s harsh, he does offer them safety provided they abide by his rules. To fail to do so could cost someone far more than their life.

At the end of Season 6, Rick Grimes and his group of survivors are caught by Negan and the Saviors and they are all forced to kneel in a circle, facing Negan as he walks around addressing each of them. His left hand is dangling opened by his side, his right hand is clutched around the handle of an old-fashioned Lousiville Slugger that has barbed-wire wrapped around it. The bat itself is rested on his shoulder and he is clearly playing with his “enemies”. Of course, his enemies are our friends, so-to-speak, and so we are totally not a Negan fan in this scene.

We find out that at the end of the scene, Negan is going to repay Rick and his crew for attacking an outpost of theirs. Rick had done that to protect his family and friends from Negan’s increasingly aggressive and oppressive interactions with them. They felt they had no other option and they killed the people at the outpost. Well, Negan did not appreciate that gesture and so, to get revenge, he tells them that he’s going to kill one of them. Then the season ends. That’s it. They leave you hanging to the very end.

At the beginning of Season 7, episode 1, we pick back up there and we finally see that Negan has chosen to kill Abraham, who he beats to a pulp with his bat. Angered by that, Daryl curses at Negan and threatens him and so Negan randomly turns and beats in the head of Glenn Rhee, the loving husband of Maggie, who witnesses the gory horror unfold before her eyes. Adding to that, Maggie is pregnant with Glenn’s child.

From there, Rick and the group are forced to be subjegated under Negan and he get’s harsher and harsher with them, forcing them to rise up and fight. To make a very long story short, Negan is defeated eventually and becomes a prisoner of Alexandria, Rick’s community. From there, Rick begins to empathize with Negan and believe he’s redeemable. Rick has to believe that because if Negan is not redeemable, are any of them? Empathy, compassion, forgiveness, redemption, those were the things that made Alexandria different that the Saviors.

Though Rick would end up disappearing, his son Carl would end up dying, and much time would pass, Rick’s legacy carried on in Negan who eventually went from begin a prisoner to a contributer to the community. Still, not everyone is convinced. Maggie, for instance, cannot let go of her hatred for Negan because of what he did to her husband and she cannot understand why Rick and the rest of the community didn’t get avenge her husband’s death.

So, here’s the question for you: is someone like Negan redeemable? Without getting into the difficulty that Maggie has in moving past her hurt, grief and righteous anger, is somene like Negan redeemable? If, by that question, you hear is Negan deserving of redemption? No! Of course not! There’s nothing he could do to earn redemption for what he did; however, that is not the question being posed. Is someone like Negan redeemable? In other words, can God save and transform someone like Negan. The show’s response is straight out of the Bible: YES!!! No one is “unredeemable”! No one is outside of the power of God’s saving grace! The story of Negan is the story of you and I. We’ve all done things that are shameful and destructive; however, this is NOTHING that can separate us from the love of our God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us, therefore, rejoice and witness to the world of that good news…and let us avoid falling into the pitfall of casting judgment on others.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
To judge is to proclaim that you are God.

PRAYER
Lord, keep me from falling into judgment, but promote a spirit of forgiveness and grace within me. Amen.

Devotional

Bad Day

3 Comments

Read John 5:1-15

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2 NLT)

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Dog – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 21 – Photo Credit: Eli Ade/AMC

As a fan of the TV series The Walking Dead on AMC, I am thrilled at the direction they brought the show through season 10 and season 11. Prior to that, it had felt like the show had dried up a bit, as if they lost their desire to keep the audiences thrilled anymore; however, since they announced that Season 11 would be the last season for the series, it was as if that had sparked the passion once again. Let me tell you, Season 11 has been as good as the original seasons and it so great to see them go out on a high note.

It definitely is an iconic show that has brought horror, and the power of using the horror genre as social commentary, to the mainstream. Those elements were always a part of horror; however, only horror fans exposed themselves to it to know that. The truth is, nowadays, there isn’t a single person who doesn’t know the show The Walking Dead, and they know full-well that Walkers are not a metal frame used to stablize you while walking. Zombies are everywhere!

Toward the end of Season 10, there was this episode where one of the OG (original) characters, Carol, was supposed to be making soup inside her house and she ends up having a complete nervous break down. It started off with her inability to really find any food that would be suitable for soup. Still, she grabbed what she could, but there was no meat to be had. *scurry* Wait a minute, or was there. *scurry scurry* A mouse! There was a rat in the wall. She had heard it and so had Dog (that’s right, she has a dog named Dog…well, it was Daryl’s but she was dogsitting Dog.). There he was, his head cocked, his earsed perked, and he was just waiting for that rat to come out! *scurry scurry scurry*

Oh, he came out and the dog nearly broke everything in the kitchen trying to catch the rat, who survived. So, Carol set a trap to catch the rat and she did catch him, but he escaped and ran back into the wall. Carol was not having that! She took out a knife and started stabbing in all the places she could hear the little rat feet pitter-pattering on the wood in between the walls. She stabbed at that wall until she could put her hands in and tear the wall down and, when she was done with that wall, she proceeded to disassemble her entire house…trying to catch the rat.

Well, needless to say, she did not catch the rat, but she had destroyed her home and had one of her friends come over to do a wellness check on her. When he found her there, he asked her if everything was okay. At that point, Carol was resigned, exhausted, emotional and just beginning to regain her sanity. She looked up at him and said, “Bad day. I’ve had a really bad day.” The tears rolled down her cheeks and her friend stood silent, just nodding his head and just being a silent presence for her.

Indeed, she had had a bad day. Let’s be honest, in the Zombie Apocalypse every day goes from bad to worse! But inwardly, Carol had a really bad day. Why? Because she’s grieving. She lost her daughter all those years ago when she was a battered wife at the outset of the pandemic. Her group had been to hell and back with all of the dangerous groups out there with tribal mentalities. She had witnessed the brutal deaths of her friends and family and she was grieiving the fact that another decision of hers made earlier on in Season 9 had left people dead and missing. She had become a liability to her people, and she didn’t know how to cope with that.

Indeed. Carol had a really bad day. We all can have really bad days. I have had my share and, in those moments, we say and do things that we later come to regret and lament. Throughout the pandemic, I had a really bad couple of years. I had heightened depression, unruly anxiety, worked around the clock, gained a ton of weight, passed out and broke my teeth, got into an accident that ended up resulting in meniscus surgery, and went through an extended period of time with no teeth and only a “flipper” or denture to where aesthetically. When I ate…I had to pull that thing out and eat with two missing front teeth.

I had had a really really bad couple of years. During that time, my mood swings and my anxiety really made my family concerned for me. Thankfully, I am a rather self-reflective person and I was concerned for me too. I got the help I needed because I had a family that was there for me. I had people who were a silent presence in my life and that helped me carry on to much better days.

Friends, this is what it means to be a Christian. When one falls, we all fall. When one rises, we all rise. All for one and one for all. We all have really bad periods of time where we are not at our best and people really need to stretch to love us; however, those who do love you will stretch and let you know they are there. That is what we are called to do in the lives of others as well. When we need help, Jesus sends others to help us. When others need help, Jesus sends us to the rescue. Let us open our hearts to being present in the lives of those who are suffering and having really bad days.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Being a Christian means BEING PRESENT

PRAYER
Lord, help me to be present in the lives of those around me. Help me to empathize with people and be a friendly, compassionate ear for those who need. Amen.