Write a remarkable story. Not a predictable one.

​I talked with a friend yesterday morning who was getting ready to go into a 2-day work function with people who'd treated her really badly. She said she knew it would be hard to not want to treat them badly in return, but she trusted God had her there for a reason.

I checked on her last night. She had indeed risen above the desire for revenge and ugliness - no matter how justified it was. She said it had been a good day.

Given what she'd been through, I found that to be a remarkable story.

You know, some of Jesus' last words on the cross were "forgive them father. They don't know what they are doing."

In those words, Jesus was writing the ending to his earthly story. Many days, I wonder if we skipped reading that part of the ending as we sped off to Easter.

Jesus had the chance to write a predictable ending to his story. Instead, he chose to write a remarkable one. Instead of seeking revenge for his killers, he asked that they be forgiven.

Jesus was trying to break the predictable and ugly cycle of those days. The cycle of needing to get even. One superpower takes over, and then the defeated seeks revenge, and then the defeated seeks revenge, and on and on and on.....

In many ways, that cycle lives on today.

Because the cycle of need to get even, it never ends. It's not like someone stands up in that cycle and says, I give up. You win.

The only way that cycle ends is when someone skips the predictable reaction and does the Godly thing. The only way that cycle ends is when someone says there's no way to get on with love while I'm stuck in the hateful cycle of trying to get even.

When we're stuck in a cycle of getting even with anyone, everyone loses out on our fullest capacity to love.

I took the boys to see the latest Fast and Furious movie yesterday. The entire movie was about two brothers bent on destroying each other over decades old grievances. I was left wondering the whole movie, who is going to win this battle.

In the end, a remarkable thing happened - something I didn't see coming. I won't spoil the ending for those who want to go see it. I'll simply say, a cycle was broken. And that left a giant impression on me.

The predictable is entertaining, I guess. There's lots of shooting and bombing and cussing and chaos. It makes for good movies and news stories.

But it's soon forgotten.

Jesus could have gotten even with his killers, but he'd have been forgotten as quickly as his killers were.

Jesus decided to instead write a remarkable story. One of rising above. One of forgiveness.

And two thousand years later, we're still talking about that story. It's a bestseller.

We're writing stories for each other. We're writing them for our kids. We might as well make them unpredictable stories. Remarkable stories. Stories they'll remember and tell long after we're gone.