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GUARD    3'?m1f Monologue: Anger, bitterness, forgiveness

GUARD -- (enters wearing street clothes) I may not look like it,
but at one time in my life I was a prison guard. I took it as my
personal goal in life to make sure people paid for their sins.
It was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it.

After I became a Christian, I boasted about my job to other
Christians. God, after all, is a god of justice, isn't he?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my job
of prison guard didn't seem to fit my God-given gifts and
talents. But that left me between a rock and a hard place. There
was no way I could leave my job. Who else could make sure that
those people who sinned against me would pay for their sins?
Noone could do the job as well as I could. So, I stayed put. I
had resolved that I would be a prison guard for life. After all,
every good thing we do in life requires a sacrifice. Nobody is
as good at keeping those people imprisoned as well as I can.
I'll just have to give up my own ambitions until these sinners
have paid for their sins against me.

So, I turned my back on changing jobs and concentrated on being
really good at making people pay for their sins against me. But
the more I concentrated on those who sinned against me, the more
I noticed that they didn't seem to be suffering as much as
prisoners should suffer. Here I was putting my career on hold --
indeed I was putting my LIFE on hold -- in order to assure that
these people would pay for their sins against me, but they
didn't seem to be suffering at all in spite of all my good
intentions.

So, finally, as casually as I could, I asked one of my prisoners
why he didn't seem to be suffering from my imprisonment. And do
you know what he said? He said that he wasn't even aware that he
was in prison.

But that wasn't the worst of it. He ask me why on earth I would
think he should be in prison. So, I reminded him of his sin
against me. And do you know what he said? He said he had no
recollection of the incident. No recollection?! That's
impossible!

Well, just to confirm that he was in denial, I asked one of the
other prisoners I was keeping imprisoned because of his sins
against me. He had no idea what I was talking about either! Do
you mean I gave up my career, my whole life, to imprison these
perpetrators and they were not even aware they were being
punished?! Then, it struck me. I was a prison guard, but noone
was in my prison. "I" was the only one in my prison. I had given
up my career, my personal life, everything, only to find out
that "I" was my only prisoner.

That's when I turned in my resignation and changed careers.
Listen, I have nothing against prison guards. But being a prison
guard didn't make use of my gifts and talents. I decided to
apply my gifts and talents to a ministry that actually made a
difference.

�2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
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