Carol Off and Jeff Douglas with CBC Radio report:
\n Every year, a giant straw Christmas goat appears in the town square in G\u00e4vle, Sweden. And almost every year, someone sets it on fire.<\/p>\n
… On Sunday night, the goat was set alight only hours after the town held its official welcome party.<\/p>\n
This year it wasn\u2019t supposed to happen.<\/p>\n
Authorities in the town had installed security cameras around the beloved goat. Two guards were hired to watch the giant straw animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the guards went to the toilet,\u201d says G\u00e4vle goat spokesperson, Marie Wallberg. \u201cThen the perpetrator took advantage of this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The G\u00e4vle goat has been installed in the town centre for 50 years, and has been burned down 35 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year we hope that he is going to stay with us,\u201d says Wallberg. \u201cSadly, he often turns to fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
… Meanwhile, there is a campaign to raise money to build another G\u00e4vle goat before Christmas. [1]
\nA big part of the problem here is that the folks at G\u00e4vle insist on constructing their giant Christmas goat out of straw. You would think that after having it lit on fire and burned to the ground 35 times, they would have made an adjustment by now.<\/p>\n
This begs the question, have you allowed yourself to be burned again and again? What vulnerabilities do you continue to leave out there, despite the pain it has caused you again and again?<\/p>\n
This is what happens when we allow the opinions and actions of people to mean too much to us. Like dry straw, our self-esteem is left to the destructive whims of others.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t allow disrespect or mistreatment by others to send you up in smoke. Fortify yourself by placing more importance on what God thinks of you.<\/p>\n
God sent His Son into this world because He loves you and values you above all else.
\n \u201cI care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.\u201d (1 Corinthians 4:3-4).<\/p>\n
\u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?\u201d (Romans 8:35).<\/p>\n
\u201cMay you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God\u201d (Ephesians 3:19, NLT).
\n________<\/p>\n
1. \u201cG\u00e4vle \u2018a city in sorrow\u2019 after giant Christmas goat goes up in flames, again,\u201d published CBC.ca, \u201cAs It Happens with Carol Off and Jeff Douglas,\u201d November 28, 2016; < http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/radio\/asithappens\/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3871129\/g%C3%A4vle-a-city-in-sorrow-after-giant-christmas-goat-goes-up-in-flames-again-1.3871132 >.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carol Off and Jeff Douglas with CBC Radio report: Every year, a giant straw Christmas goat appears in the town square in G\u00e4vle, Sweden. And almost every year, someone sets it on fire. … On Sunday night, the goat was set alight only hours after the town held its official welcome party. This year it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2790,81,2792,2791,1527,2104],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}