Woman Who Threw Burrito Sentenced to Work in Fast Food
Rosemary Hayne lost her mind. In a moment of anger and frustration, she threw her burrito bowl in the face of a Chipotle manager. It was caught on video and the police were called in. Rosemary went before the judge and was charged with assault.
'You didn't get your burrito bowl the way you like it and this is how you respond?' the judge said during sentencing.
Rather than face prison time, she put her fate in the hands of the judge who sentenced her to work at a fast-food restaurant for two months.
Click here to view the video.
If you have ever worked in the fast-food industry, you know the lack of joy, the high stress, and the absence of gratitude many people have towards the employees. All employees have nightmare stories of how they were sometimes treated, when all they were trying to do was pay bills or clothe their kids, all the while working for next to no pay. This story resonates deeply with any former employee of Taco Bell, or McDonald's, or Burger King!
Two insights into this story:
1. Scripture tells us that we are to value others over ourselves, or at the very least, equally to ourselves (Mark 12:31). Rosemary, while frustrated, needed to express empathy for the people that work hard to serve her. Instead, she exalted herself above them and dehumanized the employee by throwing the food.
2. We feel a sense of justice at the punishment Rosemary was given. And yet, it reminds us that Jesus suffered the greatest human injustice in bearing the wrath of God that WE deserved. Imagine if Rosemary's lawyer had taken the punishment , sot that Rosemary was able to go free with no consequences. We would be incensed. Yet this is what Jesus did in our place — this is the meaning of the word propitiation. Christ took our punishment so that we would be favorably viewed by God.
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3, ESV).
"Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19, NIV).
Last Salem Witch Finally Pardoned
Fox News and the AP report:
A woman who was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, finally has had her name cleared after more than three centuries.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday legally pardoned Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
Johnson's conviction took place back in 1693 — and she was sentenced to death amid the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is the final accused "witch" to be cleared, the Associated Press reported.
Wow, this was a pardon 300+ years in the making! And it took a bunch of middle school students to advocate on her behalf.
It turns out a group of 8th graders at North Andover Middle School in North Andover, Massachusetts, were studying the era when they discovered the last unpardoned “witch.” So they began researching ways to rectify the situation. The result was a piece of legislation which righted the wrong.
"We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight," Massachusetts Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who approved the bill to pardon Johnson, told the AP.
When sin signs, seals, and delivers our judgment, who will be our advocate? Who will leave the 99 to seek the one who needs rescuing and redemption, the last one left behind?
Jesus, that's who! It’s a pardon story, eternity in the making.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1, NIV).
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4, NIV).
Runner's Cause Of Death: Struck By An Airplane
Running certainly has its hazards, but never has aircraft been one of them. But, that is exactly what caused the death of Robert Gary Jones who was running on the beach on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The 38-year-old husband who was the father of two apparently never heard the single-engine plane, which had lost its propeller, as it made an emergency landing on the beach. The pilot had engine troubles and was trying to get to the Hilton Head airport. The coroner’s office said that this type of plane, an Experimental Lancair IV-P, is so quiet that Jones might not have heard it even without his earphones on (news information via WTOC.com).
Whenever such a random, tragic act occurs, we are baffled. It certainly points out that life could not be more uncertain and we cannot possibly anticipate the future (cf. Jas. 4:13). We might be tempted to wonder what this man did wrong to die such an unlikely death. Jones may have been an evil man, but he could just as easily have been an upstanding citizen and model husband and father.
Jesus warns against such thinking that would see this as an act of divine judgment or punishment. Luke 13:1-5 says, “Now on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them,’ Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’”
His message is universal in scope. Everybody has the same individual responsibility. We must live holy lives, repenting of the sin in our lives. We may suffer some terrible earthly tragedy that is in no way brought on by our own sinfulness. In a fallen world, these kinds of things occasionally happen. Our task is to live ready for eternity in every moment!