This one is based on a true event, that brings tears to my eyes. Am I this good of a Christian? Probably not. I'd like to be.
Forgiveness of the
Amish
Forgiveness. Everyone
says we must forgive. But that’s hard
for me. I can say I forgive someone, but
in my heart I don’t. I hold grudges, I
know I do. Does this mean I’m a bad
person?
And even if I forgive, there’s no way I’ll ever forget when
someone hurts me or my family. I hear
these Christians saying we are to love others.
We are to forgive them, but are they just speaking the words? I mean is it really in anyone’s heart to
forgive?
I’d say no. I’d like
to think everyone else is just as bad as I am.
That true forgiveness is not possible, unless your Jesus Christ, I
mean. For the rest of us, it just is not
reality. It’s not the world we live in.
But then I hear stories of amazing forgiveness and it blows
me away. Have you ever heard of those
Amish people up north. You know they live
plainly, wear clothes from the 19th century, live without
electricity, tv, radio, etc. They drive
wagons with horses to town. Man they
would drive me crazy if they lived down here.
Can you imagine driving down 21 and nearly stopping because an Amish Buggy
was in the road cruising at fifteen miles per hour? I’d be laying on the horn. Crazy right?
Well, a few years back I saw this news story on tv. A crazy guy with a gun entered a small Amish
school house and shot and killed several children, a teacher, and then turned
the gun on himself.
These Amish folks, devote people, a fundamental people, and
they had every right to be angry at our world that had intruded on theirs. One of our people had murdered their
children. I can’t even imagine what that
would be like. A parent’s worst
nightmare.
But it’s what they did next that brings me back. The parents of the murdered children, these
Amish parents, they gathered food and took it to the home of the parents of the
murderer. They said, “We are not the only
ones who have lost loved one’s today. It
is not their fault that their son did this, and we must forgive and move
forward.”
What? They took food
to the killer’s family! They wanted to
show forgiveness. To show charity. To show love.
Now, I know it is not in me to be that good of a
person. But isn’t that what true
Christians are called to do. To love and
to forgive others.
It really gets to me, you know.
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