Pastor Tom Long tells of the time he was at the checkout table at the library at Princeton Seminary when a friend of his, a pastoral counselor, approached staggering under the weight of a stack of books. Tom teased him a little, asking what a pastoral counselor was doing with all those books. And the fellow replied he was doing some research on forgiveness. Tom says he was surprised and puzzled. "Research on forgiveness? What are you trying to find out?"

The counselor thought for a moment and replied, "I guess I'm trying to find out if forgiveness really exists or not. You know, I see so little evidence of it in my work."