On life’s journey we all face crossroads. One of my major crossroads came at age 15. Sometime during the wintry night of January 25, 1987, I woke, vaguely aware of a flicker of light smoke and an unusual sensation heat in my room. Completely dazed, with warm blood dripping from my face, I staggered and crawled towards my bedroom door, down the hall through the heat and flames and out the front door; escaping with only my life.

That night changed the direction of my life’s journey. Three drugged and intoxicated men intruded our home, beat my parents and myself, and killed my mother. The intruders proceeded to douse the beds and floors with gasoline and set on fire our house, leaving us all for dead. While my father and I were able to flee the inferno, but my mother succumbed to the beating injuries. The intruders were apprehended. Two were friends of my brother and the third was my brother himself, my only sibling. Fourteen months later all were found guilty of the 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years. The courts gave them all a life sentence.

They received their just sentence under the law, but I too received a sentence. My life’s journey had been redefined. One can never fully understand how and why circumstances worked together to produce so much tragedy and pain. A combination of anger, jealousy, drugs, negative peer influences and the sin nature concocted a deadly potion of disaster in my brother and the other perpetrators. My mom’s death and the pursuing circumstances left me aching and vulnerable with a void that longed filling. During my recuperation, I was invited to attend a youth group at a local church and a year later, January 1988; I professed my faith in Christ. It came to me that the Holy Spirit had breathed life into my unconscious body that night of terror and I received a second chance to live. Now I wanted to serve my Lord and discover His purposes for me.

In the safety of my new relationship with Jesus, I soaked up His word and drank deeply from His “living water�? At first the words of Matthew 6:14 stung my heart. “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.�?I found it incredible to believe that God meant ME to forgive the perpetrators, my brother. Didn’t He know what they had done and the hurt they had caused? As I continued to nurse my pain and invest energy into hating my offenders, I soon realized that my anger and hatred became all consuming. Later the Spirit revealed that Christ gave His life for my sins after He was betrayed and beaten. He suffered and died on my behalf. I knew that God had forgiven me, and I wanted to continue to be forgiven; therefore, in obedience I had to forgive. I walked into the prison to visit my brother, allowing the words of forgiveness to escape from my mouth, setting free my brother and me. I told him of my love for Jesus. I had to the power to forgive and set them free because Christ forgave and set me free.

Several years later the Holy Spirit brought to my attention that although I had forgiven the other offenders one more step needed to take place. They too need to hear the powerful words of forgiveness. The Restorative Justice committee offered to facilitate a meeting whereby I had the opportunity to offer forgiveness to the others, sharing with them that my forgiveness has come only from the changes that Jesus Christ made in my heart. I’ve learned that God forgives instantly, but with me, He allows it to be a process. I know the process has been successful when my heart is filled with “the peace that passes all understanding�? I feel pure, without rage, anger, or bitterness, but a genuine sense of love for all three of the offenders that only comes from Jesus.

Thirteen years later, I had the opportunity to put feet and hands to my forgiveness. My mother had two rings and since her death, both had been in my personal possession. I knew one had been meant for my brother. One day I felt God nudging me to offer him the ring. At the first opportunity, I brought up the subject, offering him our mother’s sapphire ring. His response was from the heart. He wept and through tears he said, “I didn't know you cared about me this much.�?Tears rolled down my cheeks and I responded, “I love you.�?This situation reminds me of another story, found in the Bible (Luke 15:19-22).

Jesus uses the illustration of a family ring as a symbol of unconditional love and forgiveness when a wayward “prodigal son�?is reinstated with his family. We too, are not worthy to be reinstated to God’s family. But because of the power of Christ’s blood, shed on our behalf for our sin, He gives us the power to forgive �?He gives us the power to change. There is no greater love than this.