I share the link, which I found over at Blue Max's MetaBlog
It is a terrible terrible atrocitie committed on a little boy by his father and father's friends.
If you are a parent, I would suggest you NOT go read the article itself. Blue Max's reaction is worth reading as we all can identify with it. The details of the article which he discreetly linked to, are just far too painful but it did get me thinking, and rather than post this rant in the comment section at Blue's Blog, I decided to slap up it here.
While I cannot quote chapter and verse, the only consolation I can find after reading something like this is that, while God is loving and gracious He also says, "I will in no way, leave the guilty unpunished." This horrid man may get human justice, but imho, it will never be sufficient to the crime. This is one that only God can truly exact proper retribution for. Still the real queston is not whether this beast-of-a-man gets what he deserves or not, but how will this little boy be enabled to find a way to grow into a normal life someday?
Vile things happen in the world.
Rain falls upon the evil as well as the good.
I can't currently grasp all the 'why's and why not's' as to God's choices to step in and when not to, but I do know this:
Stuff like this, which goes on every minute all over the globe, breaks His heart and enrages Him. Vengeance is His and He says He will repay in full.
Conversely, I hope I do not get what I deserve.
I am like the thief on the cross beside the Almighty.
I deserve my punishment. Never the less, He chose to take it for me.
If I ever harbored an angry thought, surely I am guilty of murder.
As guilty as the horrible man and his friends.
Do I deserve Death and Hell?
Yes.
Do I have better?
Yes.
It is only because He Himself paid the penalty required, so that I wouldn't have to.
He is my Scape Goat.
And has cleared the pile of debris out of the way so that God can now find me and change me.
Hard to believe, but this evil, terrible man, IF he truly, truly at the core of his heart, repented of the terrible terrible atriocities he committed on his son, and cried out to the almighty God of heaven and earth who is perfect and good at all times, if this man called out for forgiveness, He could receive it.
It is a hard truth.
But that is the whole point of the Cross.
And there is No One who is not guilty of something damning.
If we say we have no sin, then we are calling God a liar.
Anybody rememebr Wesley Alan Dodd?
His crimes were similar to this man's - well, actually, they were worse.
Wesley Alan Dodd was like a Ted Bundy, but in Oregon and Washington in the early 90's.
I remember when he was captured.
I remember having a small boy of my own. I remember the news reports and how this man's visage haunted my motherly nightmares.
As his trial came to a close, I remember, I was standing in my kitchen and the thought siddenly struck me. What needs to happen here, is this: Wesley Alan Dodd, needs God. He needs to realise the full impact of his vileness. He needs to be completely and utterly broken over it. He needs to cry out tot he God of the universe for forgiveness, from a heart of despair over what he has done. He needs to receive that forgiveness and then he needs to be put to death.
I remember as sure as I am typing this. I was standing in my kitchen. I went and sat on the couch. I prayed all of the above. A few months later, that is exactly what happened.
It boggled my mind, that God was so absotively and utterly enormous that He could forgive even the most heinous things that broke His great heart. Will I see Wesley Alan Dodd someday when I stand before the almighty creator of the universe? It is hard for me to accept, but I believe yes I will. Because God is way, way bigger than my finite understanding and my puny ability to grasp His forgiveness.
So much for Sunday.
Can you tell I didn't make it to church today?
Guess I delivered my own sermon, huh?
Thanks Blue Max, for the inspiration that God could use to remind me of who HE is.
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