While George Washington was in his first term as president, He borrowed the book The Law of Nations by Emmerich de Vattel from the historic New York Society Library. And then promptly forgot to return it. Ever.

And the library never brought it up. After all, the borrowing patron was the liberator of the country, a national hero, and the first president. You just don't ask that guy for your book back. For the next 221 years, it sat on a shelf in Washington's Virginia home, until 2010 when the Mount Vernon staff finally sent it back. The overdue book fines? $300,000.

Fortunately, the head librarian, Mark Bartlett, has graciously forgiven the fine.

Possible Preaching Angles: Note that forgiveness is never really "free." Someone has to bear the cost. In this example, the library absorbed the $300,000 fine. As Tim Keller has observed, " … God's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver. … From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can 'just forgive' the perpetrator. … But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly."