Here is a part of a newsletter / article from one of my mentors, Blaine Bartel (you can find his stuff at www.blainebartel.com). This was originally titled How to Handle the Haters. This is a long article, but take some time. Read on… “To the Haters: Take a number. The line is long, but it moves quickly.” I remember furiously composing this tweet about eight years ago. A long-time friend and former colleague in ministry had just posted a hateful and derogatory comment about me online. In the moment, it hurt. It spitefully targeted past failures in my life that I had repented of and quite honestly, I was still crawling out of the ashes of all the repercussions. This friend had never reached out to me to have a conversation of any kind. At the time, I didn’t know how to handle hate. I allowed the poisonous arrows of shame to go straight to my heart. I had imaginations of revenge. I found bitter feelings taking up preciou...