“We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, NRSV).

     Perseverance has a name. Moon. Moon is a humpback whale who recently swam more than 3000 miles from Canada to Hawaii with a broken spine. Researchers suspect the whale was the unfortunate casualty of a large vessel strike.

     The results are in. The city of Lafayette, Indiana announced the winning names for its snowplows earlier this week. The list of ten names was trimmed from more than 100 public submissions. All the names make wordplay out of the region’s winter weather.

“But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love” (Luke 7:47, NLT).

     I enjoy attending twelve-step meetings. The beauty of the recovery community is its transparency. To be able to stand in front of a group of people and say, “Hi, I’m Suzy, I’m an alcoholic,” requires humility. By humility I mean self-knowledge that goes public. Self-admitted addicts know their weaknesses, are painfully aware of their past misdeeds, and are willing to share their story of redemption with others. In Jesus’ parlance, they aren’t afraid to share publicly their story because they have been forgiven much.