Description 

Synopsis:

• An angry, embittered young man holds grudges and has a garage full of mementos from past offenses.
• The video opens as a young, bearded man drags a car bumper up his driveway and after a few attempts, manages to get the garage door open.
• As he sits on a lawn chair in his junk-filled garage, he reminisces about his offenses. Through flashbacks, he recalls three different offenses.
• A fender bender precipitated a tantrum and gave justification for taking the other guys bumper – as he says “hit the blinker, keep your bumper”.
• Unable to see that he’s the problem, he even goes so far as to say that he feels sorry for the guy that was involved in the wreck because “everything in the world is someone else’s fault”.
• A shopping cart stands as a monument to a grocery-shopping excursion that ended badly because his frozen peas were thawing as he waited in line—thus he justified taking a cart home as recompense.
• Finally, he dwells on Christmas 1981 when as a two-year-old he got pajamas but his sister got a doll. He laments that his parents never did say they were sorry.
• Characteristic of someone who doesn’t let go and forgive, the guy breaks the one ornament hanging from a brittle Christmas tree then sweeps up the broken pieces and places them into a zip lock bag that he staples back on the tree.
• High quality production- flashbacks combined with his lawn chair account give the video a documentary feel.

Application:

• We all need to stop and think about grudges that we may be holding onto that we don’t even know are there.
• One thing about an unforgiving, bitter person is that they’re the only ones who don’t see that they are the problem.
• When we continue in a lifestyle of “exacting justice” we don’t leave a lot of room for the Lord to be merciful to us.

Suggested Uses:

• Appropriate as sermon starter on forgiveness
• Also appropriate as discussion for exacting vengeance rather than let God take control.

Biblical Reference:

• Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
• Vengeance is mine says the Lord