Some of the biggest challenges inlife are not physical, but rather mental ones that cut you to the core andchallenge your faith, your morality, your integrity, sense of fairness and yourvery being. Just about one year ago today, on a bright sunny June morning, one suchchallenge broadsided me.           

      Itcame from one of my three brothers, in a telephone call, telling me that ouryoungest 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, exercisedand maintained a healthy lifestyle. He was married, with three grown childrenand three new grandbabies. Biking with his Christian Bicycle Club was one ofhis great pleasures in life. In this group of sixty bike enthusiasts, he wasknown as “Mr. Cautious” because of his strict adherence to safety off and onthe 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 acar rounded the bend, came across into the oncoming lane and hit him head onsending him one hundred and two feet down the road. The car continued onto theshoulder, then ran between two telephone poles, crossed the street twice moreand landed in a deep gully in someone’s front yard. There were three witnessesto the accident, homeowners who happened to be working on their lawns at thetime.

    The thirty-nine-year-old woman behind the wheel had just been granted earlyrelease from prison having been sentenced to ten years for drug possession; hadno 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 monthsbefore she was sentenced. The verdict was guilty on three counts. She wassentenced to 15-years with no chance of parole-to life in prison. Before thesentence was announced, the family was allowed to address the woman.   

    Take a moment and think, what would you say to this woman? If you werewriting a story, what would you have your characters say or do? Could youforgive?

    Only one of my two remaining brothers was able to attend the trials. I wasunable to attend. My Texas brother sent a statement that was read to the woman atthe sentencing hearing.

    The letter talked of my younger brother’s strong faith and how, had hemet the woman, he would have loved to talk to her. It spoke of the family andhow 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 prayerfor you is that you will come to know                     peace in understanding that yourremaining 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 darkplace.”

    The judgecommented that in all her years of serving on the bench, she’d never witnessedsuch loving forgiveness.

    Could you forgive?

    To read another extraordinary story of forgiveness in the face oftragedy, check out the novel, by Australian author, Dr. Bob Rich, titled, Hitand Run!  Read my review of Hitand Run along with an interview with Dr. Rich, in my February, 2021blogpost!

Contact: sandra@arliebooks.com

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