The Bible stories told to us as children, while not fantasy or fiction, were also not the entire story.  Those stories were cleansed, so to speak, so
that children with limited knowledge of the world, were taught about the story but spared the grim reality.  This reality displays details of the
characters sin, sacrifice, and redemption that make these stories so important and pertinent to our daily lives.

I read these stories again, as an adult – stories I had not read in twenty years and realized there is much more to learn now than
then.  I realized how similar the decisions and sacrifices made over two thousand years ago, are not so different than they are today.  While decisions
today may be complicated, they all revert back to our basic needs and desires and our human ability to make decisions, good or bad, based on our morals,
ethics, and beliefs. 

We, as adults, are more experienced in life and able to accept these details omitted from our childhood stories because we have
experienced or witnessed these very character flaws and attributes, and can apply them to our daily lives.

Through my life I have witnessed family members make choices that affected our entire family in a negative way.  These decisions made me form a life changing decision to avoid disappointing those I love, including God.  That led me to a life of perfectionism that is hard to shake as an adult.

How do we handle bad choices in our lives?  Either choices we have made personally or someone else’s choices that have led us down an undesired path.  It is up to us whether we grow from them or allow them to hold us in bondage.  Only Jesus can give us freedom from our past sins.  Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, forgiveness is given freely.  The question is, can we forgive ourselves?