Thursday, November 02, 2006

Loving Your Enemies

"That driver needs our prayers."

One of my friends, Gabi, made that comment in response to yesterday's post. Despite the horror of what happened, I have been praying for that young man. Our kids were okay, by the grace of God, but the life of that young man, at only 18, is already a mess. I pray that in his desperation he will be driven to the God who made him and loves him and has a much better plan for him.

Tonight Papa Rooster told me something that Bantam11 told him last night: "You know, Dad, at first I felt like I couldn't wait to go to court and help to really get that guy." (The sheriff told us we may have to appear.) "But then, I remembered what [our pastor] said that time about loving your enemies. And I decided I'm going to pray for that guy."

Hmmm. Guess he really was listening to the sermon....

4 comments:

Mike the Geek said...

I would suggest that your Bantam11 is right in both cases; getting him in court and praying for him are not mutually exclusive activities. The young man in question needs to be restrained from harming society by whatever means are required, even as prayers are offered for the conversion of his soul.

Caveat: As a thouroughly insensitive, non-new-age guy from Texas, truth in advertising requires me to confess that my typical response is to shoot someone first, then pray for the repose of his soul.

In any case, thank God no one was significantly injured.

At A Hen's Pace said...

Mike--

Oh yes, Bantam11 is still looking forward to telling his story in court!

I agree entirely--this young man needs to be restrained for the protection of others, and I also believe that he needs to experience the consequences of his actions. This event will hopefully be a wake-up call for him.

Anonymous said...

"Our kids were okay, by the grace of God, but the life of that young man, at only 18, is already a mess. I pray that in his desperation he will be driven to the God who made him and loves him and has a much better plan for him."

Jeannie, this is exactly what I meant! I agree with you and Mike, that he needs to be brought to justice. However, my heart aches for him as someone who so obviously does not know God's love and grace. My prayer is for him to know God's love before he killed himself or someone else. Again, I am so glad that all the children were safe.

Gabi

Hen Jen said...

makes you thankful when your child says something truthful like that, lets you know how soft his heart is towards the Lord. I really hope the young man responsible does get some help, sometimes it takes the long road before a lesson is learned. My brother in law went to prison for DUI, it was a long string of living wrong, hurting his family, defying God. In prison his heart was turned back to the Lord and his family. I pray this young man will have a change of heart too.

Jenny in Ca