Some of the biggest challenges in life are not physical, but rather mental ones that cut you to the core and challenge your faith, your morality, your integrity, sense of fairness and your very being. Just about one year ago today, on a bright sunny June morning, one such challenge broadsided me.
It
came from one of my three brothers, in a telephone call, telling me that our
youngest brother, was in a bike accident and things didn’t look good.
My 59-year-old brother was the picture of health. He ate well, exercised
and maintained a healthy lifestyle. He was married, with three grown children
and three new grandbabies. Biking with his Christian Bicycle Club was one of
his great pleasures in life. In this group of sixty bike enthusiasts, he was
known as “Mr. Cautious” because of his strict adherence to safety off and on
the bike.
On this fateful day he was checking out a new ride for the club. He was riding in the bike lane on a country road with rolling hills and gentle curves, when a
car rounded the bend, came across into the oncoming lane and hit him head on
sending him one hundred and two feet down the road. The car continued onto the
shoulder, then ran between two telephone poles, crossed the street twice more
and landed in a deep gully in someone’s front yard. There were three witnesses
to the accident, homeowners who happened to be working on their lawns at the
time.
The thirty-nine-year-old woman behind the wheel had just been granted early
release from prison having been sentenced to ten years for drug possession; had
no driver’s license; and was high on Meth, Fentanyl and one other illegal drug.
She didn’t even know she’d hit someone.
It was six months before she came to trial and another five months
before she was sentenced. The verdict was guilty on three counts. She was
sentenced to 15-years with no chance of parole-to life in prison. Before the
sentence was announced, the family was allowed to address the woman.
Take a moment and think, what would you say to this woman? If you were
writing a story, what would you have your characters say or do? Could you
forgive?
Only one of my two remaining brothers was able to attend the trials. I was
unable to attend. My Texas brother sent a statement that was read to the woman at
the sentencing hearing.
The letter talked of my younger brother’s strong faith and how, had he met the woman, he would have loved to talk to her. It spoke of the family and how they were all Christians and how they know she didn’t do this on purpose. To paraphrase the last paragraph,
“Please know that I don’t hate you. My prayer
for you is that you will come to know peace in understanding that your
remaining years are nothing in terms of eternity. You still have choices.
Please choose to find the faith my brother had and become a light in a dark
place.”
The judge
commented that in all her years of serving on the bench, she’d never witnessed
such loving forgiveness.
Could you forgive?
To read another extraordinary story of forgiveness in the face of
tragedy, check out the novel, by Australian author, Dr. Bob Rich, titled, Hit
and Run! Read my review of Hit
and Run along with an interview with Dr. Rich, in my February, 2021
blogpost!
Contact: sandra@arliebooks.com
https://sandrawarrenwrites.blogspot.com/
https://www.sandrawarren.com or https://www.arliebooks.com
