Forgiving Against All Odds.. Vera Sinton

In times of war and political unrest, things happen which leave huge scars of unforgiven wrongs. But such times can also produce shining examples of forgiveness.

Pastor Son in Korea in the 1940's was a gentle, gracious man. He had already suffered imprisonment by the foreigners who controlled his country. then he received news that his two sons at college had been murdered by student activists because they would not join the cause.

As the Pastor took their funeral service, the congregation was astonished to hear him announce that God has given him a love which made him determined to seek out and adopt the killer.
Through a network of friends, a frightened young man was rescued from a firing squad and brought face to face with his victims' family.
'We've lost two sons,' said Pastor Son. 'Come and be our son instead.'

In 1987, millions of viewers watched television interviewers with Gordon Wilson. He and his daughter were buried in rubble by a bomb blast at a public parade in Northern Ireland. He was holding her hand as she died. But he refused to nurse ill-will against the bombers.

I shall pray for them tonight and every night. God forgive them, for they don't know what they do.'

A Dutch women, Corrie ten Boom, at the age of fifty was suddenly plunged into the excitement of helping Jews escape the Nazis. As a result, she and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where Betsie died. After the war, Corrie worked tirelessly helping people to forgive.

Then came the day when one of those sadistic guards stepped up to her with a beaming face. He had found God's forgiveness and wanted to shake her hand. All the horrors of the camp and her sister's suffering passed before Corrie's eyes. Her arm seemed to be stuck to her side.
Silently she prayed, 'Jesus, I cannot forgive him.
give me your forgiveness.' 'As I took his hand,' she writes 'the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while in my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.'

'Oh, but,' you may be saying, 'those are very special people. I couldn't be like that. I'm not even sure I want to be.'
Of course, you can choose not to forgive. but before you do, it is worth looking at the consequences.