Parole Denied

Anyone who has ever been a victim of a violent crime will tell you that regardless of how much time passes, there is an anxiety and difficulty in processing new information about "it".  First, you are registered with the state and assigned a number.  You are told by form letter of your rights.  You are told that your input matters.  You wait.  A lot.  


As a Christ follower, you think about forgiveness.  You think about fearing the Lord, more than man.  You think about redemption.  You hope that the person on the other side of the bars is repentant.  Then you find out they aren't.  Decades later, multiple parole hearings. 

Even though you wish things were different, you find yourself relieved to get another form letter:  Parole denied.  And yet...

What does life in prison compare to life separated from God?  I'm grateful today that I know a loving God who longs to be in relationship with me.  Me, who deserves death, but for His sacrifice.  My sentence has been commuted. 

Romans 6:23  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."