brakelite
Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2011
- Messages
- 873
Quote: “Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His.
In the book "Hidden in Plain Sight" by Mark Buchanan, a wonderful example of self sacrificial love, just like the love of Christ, is told. The story is about a woman from Rwanda, named Regine, who became a Christian as she read her sister’s Bible. Later she moved to Canada because of the genocide in Rwanda at that time. In Canada, she met Gordon, and they got married. Then they decided that they needed to go back to Rwanda to show Christ’s love to people who had been her enemies.
It was in Rwanda that she met a woman whose only son had been murdered.
In the book "Hidden in Plain Sight" by Mark Buchanan, a wonderful example of self sacrificial love, just like the love of Christ, is told. The story is about a woman from Rwanda, named Regine, who became a Christian as she read her sister’s Bible. Later she moved to Canada because of the genocide in Rwanda at that time. In Canada, she met Gordon, and they got married. Then they decided that they needed to go back to Rwanda to show Christ’s love to people who had been her enemies.
It was in Rwanda that she met a woman whose only son had been murdered.
“She was consumed with grief and hate and bitterness. ‘God,’ she prayed, ‘reveal my son’s killer.’
“One night she dreamed she was going to heaven. But there was a complication: in order to get to heaven she had to pass through a certain house. She had to walk down the street, enter the house through the front door, go through its rooms, up the stairs, and exit through the back door.
She asked God whose house this was.
‘It’s the house,’ he told her, ‘of your son’s killer.’
“The road to heaven passed through the house of her enemy.
“Two nights later, there was a knock at her door. She opened it, and there stood a young man. He was about her son’s age.
“‘Yes?’
“He hesitated. Then he said, ‘I am the one who killed your son. Since that day, I have had no life. No peace. So here I am. I am placing my life in your hands. Kill me. I am dead already. Throw me in jail. I am in prison already. Torture me. I am in torment already. Do with me as you wish.’
“The woman had prayed for this day. Now it had arrived, and she didn’t know what to do. She found, to her own surprise, that she did not want to kill him. Or throw him in jail. Or torture him. In that moment of reckoning, she found she only wanted one thing: a son.
“‘I ask this of you. Come into my home and live with me. Eat the food I would have prepared for my son. Wear the clothes I would have made for my son. Become the son I lost.’
“And so he did
“One night she dreamed she was going to heaven. But there was a complication: in order to get to heaven she had to pass through a certain house. She had to walk down the street, enter the house through the front door, go through its rooms, up the stairs, and exit through the back door.
She asked God whose house this was.
‘It’s the house,’ he told her, ‘of your son’s killer.’
“The road to heaven passed through the house of her enemy.
“Two nights later, there was a knock at her door. She opened it, and there stood a young man. He was about her son’s age.
“‘Yes?’
“He hesitated. Then he said, ‘I am the one who killed your son. Since that day, I have had no life. No peace. So here I am. I am placing my life in your hands. Kill me. I am dead already. Throw me in jail. I am in prison already. Torture me. I am in torment already. Do with me as you wish.’
“The woman had prayed for this day. Now it had arrived, and she didn’t know what to do. She found, to her own surprise, that she did not want to kill him. Or throw him in jail. Or torture him. In that moment of reckoning, she found she only wanted one thing: a son.
“‘I ask this of you. Come into my home and live with me. Eat the food I would have prepared for my son. Wear the clothes I would have made for my son. Become the son I lost.’
“And so he did
