One day a kindergarten teacher was helping a student named Jimmy with his pronunciation. He struggled with the letter “R,” so she gave him a sentence packed with R’s: “Robert gave Rob a rap in the rib for roasting the rabbit so rare.” After practicing, Jimmy proudly recited, “Bob gave Bobby a poke in the side for not cooking the bunny enough.” Clever kid—he avoided the “R” sound altogether. Many people today, including Christians, do something similar with another “R” word: repentance. King David avoided it for a year. Psalm 51 records his repentance, highlighting the 5 effects avoiding it had on him and 4 characteristics of what true repentance is.