The Freedom of Forgiveness Received

Well, one thing we could do with the road construction here, if we instead of road construction would just pretend we're in Ukraine, and there's been bombs falling, and this is the result, and then we can, you know, we're kind of in hiding here, get ready to run any time, kind of gives us a feeling of strangers and pilgrims, we're just passing through, we may not see the truth of it. I've been thinking about some verses I'd like to share in, at some point, it starts out with, as the lightning, you know where that is? Where does it start out with the lightning? As the lightning, Matthew chapter 24. Before I read these, though, I just wanted to say something about the children's lesson, the kindness thing.

I just heard a story that really illustrates what Dennis was talking about, kindness, how that really makes a difference in someone's life. There was a pastor from South Africa that was over in New Orleans visiting, preaching, and he was, went to a convenience store, 7-Eleven or something similar, and stood in line behind a father who was, had a little boy there, and all of a sudden he got up to the checkout line, he could see the man was very uncomfortable because he didn't have the money to pay for whatever he had. And so the pastor whispered to the father, he said, hey, don't turn around, just take some cash to pay for your son's food, or for your food you're buying there.

And he hands it to him, the father looks really embarrassed, but he never turned around, and they both left without the guy in front ever seeing who it was that gave him the money. Nine years later, he went to, he was back in New Orleans again, he was preaching, and a man came up to him after the service. He says, he said, he said he's a Christian, but he said, I want to tell you what happened to me.

He said, nine years ago I wasn't a Christian. He said I was a non-believer, life was going bad, we were out of money, we didn't know what to do. Finally, he and his wife and the little boy, they drove to an edge of a cliff, and they were going to jump over this cliff.

They said, we're just going to end it all. But before they do that, they said, we want to give our boy, you know, give him something to eat. So they drove to the convenience store, they thought they had enough to buy this food, and there wasn't, but all of a sudden behind him in line, he hears a voice whisper, here, take this money, remember Jesus loves you.

So they went back to the cliff, and they talked about this, they decided we can't kill ourselves, this would not be, this isn't what we should do, and so they drove away not knowing where to go. All of a sudden they saw the same words, Jesus loves you, on a sign outside a church. They went into the church, they got help, they ended up getting born again, and when he was sitting there in that service, and the pastor got up to preach, he recognized that voice, the voice that had been behind him, that South African, you know, that accent, you can't hide it, it's a South African accent, he says, that's the guy who gave me this money, and he went up and talked to him, and said, thank you.

So kindness, what difference does it make in other people's lives? As we read these verses, I want you to think about the fact that we are very temporarily here. This is a very serious time that we're in, and we've heard these verses before, but sooner or later, sooner than we think, it's actually going to happen. Will we believe it when we actually see the lightning pass from east to west? Are we going to really believe it's really happening? We've heard about the second coming of Jesus.

As the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming. In the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.

And I heard as it were a voice, the voice of a great multitude, and the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thundering, saying, hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and her wife has made herself ready. Behold, I come quickly.

Hold that fast which thou hast, let that no man take thy crown. He which testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that you should be written unto you, written to, for you know perfectly well yourselves that the day of the Lord so comes to the thief by night.

When they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child, and they shall in no wise escape." We think when we read these verses, surely it's not going to happen today. Surely it won't happen yet this summer, probably not before the wedding, probably not before harvest is over, probably not before this year is over, probably not until I at least can get my children raised and maybe even get to that point of retirement, probably not before this, but one of these days it will happen and it will be before things that we were expecting to do. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, know not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Take ye heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is a man taking a far journey, who left his house, gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for you know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

And what I say to you, I say to all, watch. Are you watching today? As I was thinking about this sermon, what I'm going to preach about, it's a little hard to concentrate on this sermon because you see I was also assigned five more sermons to preach this fall. And so now in my mind I tend to think about what I'm going to be preaching about.

Well, this fall I'm supposed to preach at Bible school and that's five sermons. This is only one sermon. This is a little, you know, problem.

That's a big problem, okay? And so the big problem kind of goes through my mind. So what am I going to preach about? Well, my children were asking me the other day, Dad, what are you going to preach about at Bible school? I said, I'm not going to tell you. And they said, well, we can probably figure it out because you pretty much preach the same things.

You know, you kind of go through this cycle. And so, you know, it's not too hard to figure out. And I got to, and not only me, by the way, all the preachers here, they say they kind of preach the same, you know, you can kind of figure out ahead of time what they're going to preach about.

And they listed some of your names and they put a list of sermon titles beside you. And so you can ask them if you want those. But, you know, I got to thinking, you know, is that true for me? And it probably is.

You know, as I think of things that I've preached here over the years, I think, well, what do I have a burden for? And it just kind of tends to come out things that I have a burden. Maybe you could list them. I won't ask you to.

But, you know, if I'd put a list up here on the board, things that tend to come up more often than not. And then I looked at that list and maybe some of these things are things, maybe some of that you have shared, but they're burdens that we have. And why do I have these burdens? It's kind of like Jude.

You know, Jude sat down to write an epistle. He says, you know, I was going to write to you about the common salvation, but then, well, I had to do something else. I just had this burden to tell you to earnestly contend for the faith.

And sometimes we as preachers, we have specific burdens on our heart. If I was to just pick five, maybe we could all do that someday. Just pick the five things that you talk about the most.

Just maybe it's a good exercise. But five things that I have a burden for that tend to come out more often than just once. What would I put up there? What would you put up there for me? I'm not going to ask you to do that.

I'll go ahead and put up some of the things that I think I tend to talk about quite a bit. I would probably put up there this issue of forgiveness. I would probably put up there the issue of wealth, possessions, money, things like that.

And you say, well, what do these things have in common? Here's what these things I think have in common. There are things I have a burden about that in Matthew 7, Jesus said a lot of people are going to come to Him on judgment day and they're going to be turned back and they won't be expecting to be turned back. They're going to be rejected and it's going to be disappointment to them.

They're not going to be these people that say, I'm an atheist, I'm a Satanist, I plan to go to hell. That's not going to be these people. These are the people who expect to go to heaven and they're not going to make it.

And forgiveness, Jesus said, is one of those things. If you don't forgive, God won't forgive you. Wealth, Jesus said, you talked about Matthew 25, we already heard about that this morning.

Many people are going to show up there when all nations are gathered and they're going to say, Lord, Lord, when did we see you in need? And we didn't know this was the problem, but He's essentially going to tell them, yeah, hey, show up. We've got judgment day coming. I want you all to bring your checkbooks.

Why checkbooks? Well, we're going to go through the check register. Are you giving to the needy? What are you doing with the money that you've had? You say, wow, that's the heavy load. Well, okay.

But we know it now. Jesus said it's going to happen in Matthew 25. That's what the test is going to be.

So that's one that comes up quite often when I share. I picked up this book here. That's actually where the story came from back when I was at the Billboard evangelism.

It's called Where is Lazarus by Gary Miller. I think it's his latest book, unless he spits them out quite quickly, but this was one of his latest books. And someone said it's his best book so far.

I said, wow, that's quite something for Gary Miller to pick out his best book. Where is Lazarus? I'll read the back. The rich man in the Bible couldn't escape poverty.

Hungry Lazarus sat at his gate, at his gate was a constant reminder that not everyone enjoyed his luxurious lifestyle. Here in America, it's different. We can live an entire lifetime without seeing real hunger, extreme poverty, or dogs licking open wounds.

With the needs out of sight, it's easy to forget the millions of Lazaruses in our world. In this book, Gary Miller challenges us to take a closer look at Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus. It's easy to feel good in prosperous America about our lifestyle choices.

We compare our lives to affluent neighbors and make decisions based on our prosperous friends. But what if extreme poverty were just outside the door? How would it affect those choices? How close do you get to the people with real needs? Where is Lazarus in your life? I really contemplated just do a study on this book or maybe on Luke chapter 16, the rich man and Lazarus. That was one idea that I had for this morning as I was contemplating what would God have me share.

Another thing that would be on this list of five things that's heavy on my heart. I don't remember if I've preached specifically on this or not, but it's still pretty heavy on my heart. It's this issue of technology.

Of all the issues facing the churches these days, this is a huge one. Maybe it ought to be at the top. I don't know.

But it's a great big one. There was another book that was handed out to us called The Freedom Fight. Some of you may remember when we did our purity meeting here.

I don't know. It's probably been two, three months ago. But the guy from Kansas who walks people through steps to purity, he uses this book.

Well, somebody at the CAM headquarters found out about this book. They said, we're going to give one to all our phone team. They gave it to me.

I'm about, I don't know, 10% of the way through it. But it's really, really good so far. So it's called The Freedom Fight, The New Drug.

It's talking about pornography. The New Drug and the Truce That Set Us Free. So again, that was another thing that I considered talking about.

It's certainly something that's heavy on my heart. But maybe it'd fit better in a purity meeting sometime rather than a public meeting like this. The fourth issue that I think is going to come to light on Judgment Day, the fourth issue, just this thing of hidden sin.

And those two maybe are kind of connected, these number four and number five. But hidden sin, sin that nobody knows about. The kind that, you know, you got a preacher and he's making big headlines and he's got a huge following.

But then he comes out later, he's got hidden things in his closet, in his life that nobody knew about. And I, this past Wednesday, I got sick. I got sick on Monday or Tuesday actually.

But by Wednesday, I was really sick and then during the day on Wednesday, I got lots of phone calls. And so by Wednesday night, whenever the rest of you, some of the rest of you showed up for prayer meeting, I was just, I had to stay home. Well, I was too sick to work too.

So I just pulled up a sermon that was on a sermon chat that I'm on. It was called When, it's called When the Dogs Bark by Paul Weaver. And I sat there listening to this sermon while everybody else was here at prayer meeting or out in the fields or wherever, whatever you were doing on Wednesday evening.

And the dogs that he was referring to, the dogs that are barking were, he was talking about a person's conscience and how a person's conscience, it'll, you know, certain triggers will happen. We sang that song Just As I Am. For some people, that's a trigger.

It breaks, makes their conscience work. Maybe it's a particular sermon, but something comes to mind. Yes, I've got that thing in my conscience.

Paul Weaver's message was, if your conscience is bothering you, get free. A defiled conscience in one area of your life is going to bring also bondages in other areas of your life. And so get free.

Don't let those dogs keep barking without doing something about it. And so listen to that. If you get a chance, it is on the, it's on some of our, you know, WhatsApp or not WhatsApp, but a cloud veil message.

If you want to hear it and you haven't, don't have access to it, let me know. We'll try to make sure it's available. So hidden sin.

And the last one that comes up sometimes in my preaching is the whole thing of witchcraft. And again, we're talking about things that things that people will, at least in my mind, as I read the scriptures, face God and judgment and be astounded that they're going to be excluded from heaven because they didn't know they were into witchcraft. So maybe some, you know, health issues, some issue that they're doing and, oh, you know, my dad did this and I, and I didn't know this was wrong.

And so that has been a burden. And I've preached on that a number of times. So I don't know what, um, yeah, Bible school.

I'm not saying this is the list of things I'm going to talk about a Bible school or anything like that, but these are things that come up in, in, in my mind. Well, so I'm still struggling. A week ago, what do I talk about this Sunday today? And these are ideas.

Some of these things that I've talked about, the ideas that I've had just got back from this trip, a lot going through my mind. Well, last Sunday we had the service. I went back home, sat down to take billboard calls at 3.46 PM.

I got a call. Hello, my name is Delbert. I'm from Ohio.

And he says, I'm an old order Amish person. Okay. Well, we get some old order Amish calling sometimes, you know, they want to encourage us in the work they get the, so a lot of them will get the brochures in the mail about the billboard about cam and the different things.

And so, okay, that's probably what he's doing. He's calling and yes, sure enough, he had read some newsletters, but he said, 11 weeks ago, Delbert said, Delbert Shetler was his last name. He said he had hired a driver.

He and his 18 year old daughter and 16 year old son, their 20 year old daughter was going to go with them, but it was just the four of them, the driver, Delbert and two children, 18 year old daughter, 16 year old son. And they were driving down a two lane road. And here comes an oncoming truck that blew a tire, came across the lane and hit him head on.

Delbert said, I was the only survivor. Everyone else died. And the driver died, my 18 year old daughter, my 16 year old son.

Suddenly he had my attention this lazy Sunday afternoon. It didn't seem all that important for me to have a relaxing afternoon anymore. I said, Delbert, I'm shocked.

What's, you know, tell me about it. Well, he, it turned out he wasn't saying, he wasn't calling to say, please pray for me. I'm really struggling.

That wasn't his message. He wasn't saying, please comfort me. That wasn't his message either.

His message was, please tell me, how can I witness to this truck driver that killed my two children? He's very despondent. He's 55 years old. His name is Doug.

He doesn't know much about the Bible. He's devastated. He's suicidal.

What can I do to reach out to him? He says, I've read your brochures. I've read how you tell him to go read the book of Matthew. And I've done that already.

He says he and his brother, they both already had contact with this, this truck driver. And, and they're, they're trying to witness to him and telling him what they know. Of course, their given language in church is usually German.

So now they're trying to witness to him in, in English. And, and so that was Delbert's burden. How do we witness to this man? He said, he said, you know, life has totally been turned upside down.

Life looks fragile to me right now. And he says, actually, that's a good thing. Life being fragile is reality.

And so when life looks fragile, it's actually good that it looks fragile because it is. He said, another thing that's happened from this accident, the local community, you know, around us Amish, they've looked and said, wow, amazing. They're amazed at how we handle this tragedy within our community.

So he says, that's a good thing. God's bringing good things out of this tragedy. But he said, the biggest comfort to me would be as if this truck driver could get saved as a result of this accident.

And listen to this. And I'm thinking, I'm sharing a few tips, a few things, you know, that I, that I know, but it's just my mind, the wheels of my mind are just a spinning. And suddenly I remember an incident from 17 years ago when a childhood friend, couple childhood friends from this community right here, Jeff and Carolyn Schrock, they got married.

They had a family, five children. Jeff is on his way heading down a, it was actually a four-lane highway. It was a meeting in the middle.

But a truck comes across in the dark and hits him head on and everybody dies except Jeff. And his wife, Carolyn, she was in town in Spokane, Washington. They had moved up there on a church outreach.

He was heading there to meet them. She was pregnant with child number six. She's waiting, waiting for this, her husband to get there.

She hears the sirens going, wonders if maybe it's them. Actually, I don't know how much it went through her mind, but she just hopes they're okay. Well, she found out there was an accident and your husband's in the hospital, but where's my children? Well, finally the police officer lady had to tell her there were five fatalities.

And, of course, that shocked that community 17 years ago. But it spoke to people as well when they forgave, like Delbert is trying to forgive. In fact, the one lady who says she was a believer, they met, I think it was at the funeral, but she said, my husband is an attorney and he's the attorney for the man who killed your children.

She says, but I'm a Christian and when my husband heard this, my attorney husband, this atheist attorney, he said, of course, there's going to be lawsuits and they're going to prepare for these lawsuits. But somebody told him, no, there's not going to actually be any lawsuits. He says, I don't believe that.

He says, of course, there's going to be lawsuits. Somebody, the grandparents, somebody is going to sue over this. There's going to be lots of dollar signs floating around.

And he says, of course, there's going to be lawsuits. But she says, then he went and talked to the family and they assured him there wasn't going to be lawsuits. She said, I think I'm getting the story right.

She said, my atheist husband came home that day with a shocked look on his face. He says, I think I saw God today. I think I saw God today.

I asked Delbert whether he would be okay with me giving his number to Jeff and Carolyn and letting them reach out to him. He said, oh yes, he'd love to talk to them. He's a very outgoing man.

He's very, you know, kind of an outgoing personality. He told me the name of his wife so that they could, you know, be preparing to talk to both of them. He said that we'd both love to talk to them.

So I reached out to Jeff, gave him the number. He says, well, I don't have a lot to offer, but sure, he'd be glad to reach out. I just sent an email yesterday saying, hey, did they get a hold of you? I haven't heard yet.

I'm not sure how often he checks his emails. An Amish man, I might call him today. We'll find out.

But then yesterday morning, I got another email from another phone team member who had heard this story, Ernest Strubar from Oklahoma. He said this, Brother Roger, I was touched by your report about Delbert Shetler. It made me think of a three-part story from the Calvary Messenger.

You can find the first part here. It sends me a link. And the subsequent parts in the next issue.

The title is, The Freedom of Forgiveness Received. He says, I thought it, I just thought that it might be a blessing to Delbert Shetler to read this story written by someone from the other side of a similar situation. What does that mean? I'm not sure how would be the best way to get to him, get it to him.

Written by someone from the other side. So then he sends me this link. So I clicked on the link, see where this is going to take me.

It took me to an article in a magazine called the, it was a three-part article. This was the first part. It was written by a man.

His name was Joel. And I looked back to the back. Turns out he's a pastor, this man Joel.

I did a little bit of checking. It looks like he's about my age, probably a little bit younger, probably pushing 50. He's from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

He's from the town of Lancaster, actually in Pennsylvania. And that's the title, The Freedom of Forgiveness Received. So I wonder what is this about? What's going on here? So here's what he says.

Pastor Joel from Lancaster, Pennsylvania wrote this story. I'm going to share it with you. In the fall of 1991, just 11 months after passing my driver's license test, I had been driving with no accidents and no tickets.

Basically, I thought I was the best driver in the nation. I remember how much fun it was to push the limits. My parents drive to church, for example, took about 15 to 20 minutes.

I did it once in eight. It was a video game to me rather than the responsibility it should have been. As I said, I hadn't got into any trouble.

No tickets for speeding, no accidents because of recklessness, although I had a few close calls. But don't we all? On Sunday, November 3, 1991, I went to church with my family. Couldn't wait to be done, so I could rush home, shovel down dinner, and leave to play football with the guys from church, our Sunday afternoon tradition.

After lunch, my brother Jeff and I hopped into the parents' early 1980s AMC Concorde station wagon, yellow with imitation woodgrain paneling on the sides. It's a model hardly seen anymore. We picked up his friend Chad and my friend Dave and sped over to Lancaster Christian School for the game.

I knew the way back to LCS very well because my brother, sister, and I attended there through eighth grade. Part of that back way took us south on Kissel Hill Road, just to the east of Lancaster Airport. It was a beautiful fall day, cool, clear, and crisp.

I clearly remember driving on the section of Kissel Hill Road between Millport Road and Oregon Road. As I came over the crest of one small hill, I hit the gas, and we felt the car lurch into high gear. Sounding like I knew what I was talking about, I made some inane comment about the car doing well today because it hit third gear at 70.

Dave, who hadn't yet put on his seatbelt, responded he'd better do so. Little did he suspect that his caution might have saved his life. As he fumbled with the belt, I saw an Amish buggy about 100 yards in front of us in our lane, headed in the same direction we were.

I said to everyone in the car something like, I'm going to blow by these guys. I thought I was so incredibly cool. I stomped on the gas again, now doing about 70 to 75, steered the car into the left lane to pass the buggy.

As we raced closer to the buggy, I will never, ever forget seeing the nose of the horse turn out in front of me. Instantly, I knew they were trying to turn in front of me. I hadn't looked for, nor I had seen their turn signal or the small country road they were attempting to turn on to, turn left on to.

Instinct took over as I pounded the brake pedal with my foot. The brakes locked, the car skidded forward, tires screaming. We smashed into the buggy and I heard the pop of my windshield glass, windshield shattering into tiny pieces of glass.

The buggy flew over the top of the car and we rumbled to a stop in the field to the left. My hands gripped tight to the wheel, were streaming with blood, but only from shards of windshield glass that grazed my knuckles. I still have a tiny scar between two knuckles on my left hand, a constant reminder that basically nothing happened to me.

Dave never quite got his seatbelt buckled. When I hit the brakes, he grabbed the shoulder belt and held on with both hands. The belt locked and swung him around like Tarzan.

His left shoulder hit the windshield, possibly his shoulder, but maybe the buggy broke the windshield. Other than soreness, though, neither he, Jeff, nor Chad were hurt. Dave's father, who visited the scene the evening after it cleared, later told us that the skid marks from the car quite visibly ran off the road, missing a telephone pole by about 12 inches.

It all happened so fast, I don't even remember seeing a telephone pole. After making sure everybody in my car was okay, I tried to open my door, but the collision had jammed it shut. Just then, an Amish man came running up to our car, yelling frantically, does anyone know CPR? Does anyone know CPR? At 17, I was the oldest in the car.

I think Dave had a bit of training, but we were not prepared for what we saw after we got out. We walked to the crash site and saw the Amish man holding the crumpled pile of what looked like his mother. She was severely injured, convulsing, and definitely missing teeth.

I told Jeff and Chad to run to the nearest homes, which in that area were all farms, to find a phone and call 911. They sprinted across the field, so riveted on getting to a phone that my brother never even saw the Amish lady. He remembers that the fields were recently plowed, making this trek as though he was running sluggishly on a sandy beach.

It was a very frustrating prospect when all he wanted was to get to a phone as fast as possible. My brother's race to the phone was the first instance of many in which I realized the extreme pain my sin had brought, not only to the Amish family, but also to my family. Imagine being a 13-year-old, running with all your might to get a phone to call 911 because your older brother had caused an awful accident.

Dave and I stayed in flagged-down cars, hoping someone might have a mobile phone, which at that time was still a rarity. I tugged at his shirt in desperation, saying something like, what do we do? Immediate aftermath, my dad and I sat in the backseat of the police cruiser. Eventually, cars stopped, and a policeman and an EMT ambulance crew came to the scene.

That was a huge relief for me. A family friend who was driving by picked up Jeff from the scene and dropped him off at our home. He was the first to inform my parents, and together with my dad, returned to pick me up.

On their way back to the accident, from a distance, they could see the car in the field and the unrecognizable buggy. Imagine the dreadful feeling of driving to the scene of devastation that your son caused. How must that have felt for my dad? I don't remember much except fear and an overwhelming desire to tell the truth and get what I knew was a weighty burden off my back.

As my dad and I sat in the back of the police cruiser, the officer gave my dad a few moments, and dad and me, a few moments alone, and I had blurted out some initial details. We assumed he left us to ourselves then so that we could go over the details of the story together, possibly to come up with a spin that didn't make me so culpable for the accident. Although I knew it was horrible, I told him exactly what had happened, even the fact that I was going at least 70.

They were able to confirm that later anyway by the length of the skid marks. I came to find out in the coming weeks that the officer was really impressed with my honesty. At the time, I was simply scared to death of any further trouble.

Lying was not an option. I didn't know if I was going to jail, the local juvenile detention center, Barnes Hall, or some other awful place, but the cop let me go home with my dad, clearly stating that there would be a follow-up. I'll never forget what my dad said in response to my rather tepid apologies as we drove away.

You've been through enough. We're not going to make it worse for you. He was right, and I'm very glad for it.

It was already bad and about to get worse. When we arrived at our house, less than five minutes away, my mom met me at the door. I must have spent the next half hour just crying on my mom's shoulder.

As the news got out, many family and friends showed their love and support by coming over to do nothing and everything at the same time. Be there. The friends from church whom we were on our way to meet stopped their football games and came over, dirty and disheveled from the game.

Gradually, a herd of my school and church friends migrated to our house to show support. That in itself was meaningful because I had rarely attempted to mix these two groups of people. I think they even prayed together.

As I was huddled with my friends in my basement, my parents called me upstairs to my bedroom to tell me that the police officer had just called with a report about the Amish lady who had been taken to the hospital. Due to permanent brain damage, she needed life support to stay alive. Since the Amish don't believe in life support, she died that night in the hospital.

The horrible news began to pile on me. The Amish lady, the officer told us, wasn't the mother of the man. It was his wife.

More than that, it was his newlywed bride, and they had been on their honeymoon. They had only been married for five days. He was 21, she was 19.

Traditionally, November is the Amish wedding season. They were on their customary Amish honeymoon travels, visiting a few days in one relative's home, then moving on to another and another, and so on. Amid that bliss, she was dead, and I had killed her.

It was, and still is, by far the worst day of my life. My mother recalls that she held me, crying in her arms, while my dad and brother sat next to me on the bed, and my nine-year-old sister, Laura, was convinced I was going to jail. Eventually, everyone left our house, but God and I talked a long time that night.

The next day, my parents allowed me to stay home from school, and one of my friend's parents let him stay with me. He picked me up, and we watched videos to get our minds off the disaster. In the middle of Live at Hollywood Bowl, my parents called.

They found out from my uncle, who had connections to the Amish community, that the viewing was going to be that day, and they told me I was going. It was extremely frightening news, yet it signals the depths of my parents' character. I know my dad later told people it was the hardest thing they ever had to do as a parent of a six- and five-year-old now.

I can hardly imagine what I would do if I was in their shoes. How would I handle this horrible thing my son had done? How responsible would I feel, and what would my reaction be? Step by step, through the process of dealing with my sin, my parents did everything right. In a world where so many want to shift blame, especially when their children mess up, my parents stood by me and guided me through handling this situation in a God-honoring, responsible, and truthful manner.

To be continued, part two, the forgiveness of freedom, the freedom of forgiveness received. That evening, my parents, my youth pastor, who had been at our church for only three months, still amazes me that he came, another example of godly commitment, and I went to where we thought the viewing was going to be. I felt so nervous.

There was actual pain ripping across my guts. I didn't know what these people were like, which shows how much this Lancaster County person knew about the Amish that they grew up around. I didn't know what they were like or what was going to happen.

Would they come pouring out onto the porch of the house with shotguns? That was literally the image of my mind. We arrived at their house, but it didn't seem like anybody was at home. We had mistakenly been given the location, not of the viewing, but of the husband's family's home.

I'd love a little drink of water if I could. I'm getting a little bit hoarse. Some of his relatives were inside, and my mom remembers his grandmother coming out to meet us, hugging me, and expressing her forgiveness.

This kind gesture I don't recall, but most likely because, in my mind, the worst was yet to come. Amazingly, the husband's father was there and needed a ride to the viewing. We took him with us as he directed our way.

The father, while very reserved, wasn't mean to us and even expressed his forgiveness. But can you imagine driving to the viewing of your son's new wife with the family of the guy who was responsible for her death? When we finally made it to the viewing, we saw Amish buggies parked all over the farm property, heightening my fear. This was a tragedy in the life of Lancaster's Amish community, drawing many to support the family and attend the viewing.

A loss in what was supposed to be a joyful season made the front page of the local newspaper. Then the moment came. We got out of the car and walked into the dimly lit house.

My mom mentioned because the father-in-law was with us, we didn't have to go through the painful process of knocking on the door, but were immediately ushered in the house. I had never been in an Amish home and was surprised at how similar it looked to my own. The family, through the grapevine, knew that we were coming and met us at the front door.

The parents of the Amish lady who died, Melvin and Barbara Stolzfus, walked up to me and put their arms around me. Through tears, I muttered how sorry I was, and they spoke some of the most incredible words that I think are possible to utter. We forgive you.

We know it was God's time for her to die. Unbelievable. It was totally, absolutely amazing.

But the family went even further than that. They proceeded to invite my family to come over for dinner, and they wanted us to come soon, within a few weeks. I cannot express the relief that flooded over me.

Then someone led me to a back room where the husband, Aaron Stolzfus, stood beside the open casket of his wife, Sarah. To my surprise, as I nervously glanced at her, I was looking at a beautiful young woman. Aaron, like her parents, came to me with open arms, and I asked, how can I ever repay you? He simply forgave me.

We hugged as the freedom of forgiveness swept over and through me. As I read and reread the previous few paragraphs, I feel extremely limited in my command of the English language to evoke the feelings of what took place. When I tell the story live, it seems to carry a greater impact.

Maybe the audience reads my face. Maybe the emotion can't help but flow through me. All I know is that Stolzfus's concise words of forgiveness rushed through me with power.

Some people have said that Amish can forgive like that because their theology leans toward fatalism, meaning they believe everything is determined and bound to happen. There's no reason to get all bent out of shape out of something bad. God's in control.

They become somewhat emotionless about all the pain and suffering in life. They are much more capable of dealing with it well. I don't know how true that is for every single Amishman, but I do know that this particular family is very emotional in a positive way.

They are incredibly upbeat and warm people, and I know the accident, Sarah's death, was very hard for them. My mom, recalling the events that I will never forget, what Pastor Jim told us the next day, he watched Joel, that's the author, the guy writing this, he watched Joel the entire night. He said he started out as a young teen with an incredible burden of guilt on his shoulder, but walked out of that house with a tremendous weight taken from him through forgiveness.

The Stolzfus's did have us over for dinner sometime in the next month, an event I recall with wonder. We were there, sitting in that same Amish home with Sarah's family and some of his family too. The table was loaded with delicious food.

Never once did they show any kind of resentment. Never once did they attempt to make us feel bad. On the contrary, it was kind of get to know you session, an intentional beginning to a meaningful relationship.

We exchanged stories comparing Amish subculture with main American culture. They were so kind by opening their home and hearts to us. The broader Amish community in Lancaster was also very impressive to me.

I still have the pile of at least 50 cards that I received from various people across the country. They were constantly encouraging me and pointing me to God. It was also at this time, I clearly recall a striking visit from my soccer coach.

I remember meeting him at the door one evening, probably just a few days after the accident. I will never forget what he said, Joel, you will be compassionate from now on. How true.

Since that time, I have never had trouble forgiving people. Not that I've worked on it and become talented at it. On the contrary, I think God must have changed my heart because I don't try.

I don't have to try to forgive anymore. It flows out as naturally as my heart beats without my having to say, without my having a say in the matter. What do you think about that? Why do you think that is? Why does Joel have no problem forgiving? It's not like he's tempted with unforgiveness anymore.

Can you imagine not even being tempted with unforgiveness? Think about that. Why is that? Maybe you'll have some comments on the testimony time. Handing my keys over to my parents, I did not drive again in the ensuing months.

My trial was set for February 5, 1992. Because of the severity of the accident, I was charged with vehicular homicide, a charge that indicates the accidental but irresponsibly reckless use of a vehicle that caused the loss of life. I'm not sure where it falls in the murder manslaughter scale, but I do know that if I would have been one year older, I could have been facing jail time, which is another facet of the whole story that points me to the grace of God.

I was 17, a minor, and therefore dealt with under the juvenile justice system and saved from a much harsher penalty in the adult courts. Soon after the accident, I was assigned a probation officer and a public defender to walk my family and me through the penal process prior to the court date. The standard punishment for juvenile vehicular homicide at the time was the suspension of the driver's license for three years, 200 hours of community service, payment of all court costs, which was only about 100 bucks, and probation until the community service requirement was completed.

To me, with Sarah's life gone because of my actions, it was an extremely generous sentence. My trial and punishment served as another moment for the Amish family to demonstrate the freedom of forgiveness. They wrote letters to the judge begging for my pardon, asking that I be acquitted on all counts.

Imagine the character it would have to take to write that letter. Because of the severity of the crime, however, a pardon was impossible based on the law. At the trial, my dad asked the judge if it might be possible to get my license back sooner because I'd be going to college soon and I would need to drive.

I hoped that maybe I could have more community service in exchange for a short suspension, but the judge held firm to the standard, a wise decision that was completely rational acceptable to my thinking. As we walked out of the courtroom, my probation officer, met us in the hallway. I will never forget pulling out my wallet and handing over my precious driver's license to her that day after the court appearance.

The end of part two. The Freedom of Forgiveness Received, part three, by Joel Keim, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Our relationship with the Stoltzfus family has continued ever since.

Both Aaron's and his in-law's surname is Stoltzfus. Over the years, they've come to our house. We've gone to theirs about once each year near the anniversary of the accident.

Once, when they came to our house, I remember playing ping pong with Aaron. We must have played ten games and I beat him every time, which to me was an awkward situation. Here I am, I thought, an irresponsible kid who killed his wife, and now I'm playing ping pong with him.

He really seemed to enjoy it and wanted to keep playing. I wondered if I should have let him win, but what would that do? I came to realize that our relationship with Aaron and the rest of the Stoltzfus family, though it began with the most horrible circumstances, had grown into a legitimate, normal relationship. They had forgiven me and never ever went back on that decision, and they backed it up with a real relationship.

Consider this. Five years after the accident, Michelle and I invited them to our wedding, and they came for the ceremony and the reception bearing gifts. Some may read this and think, how insensitive.

You invited them to your wedding. Isn't that a slap in the face? On the surface, it certainly looks like it. It does seem odd to me that we would invite the Stoltzfus to share in our celebration when only five years earlier I had totally shattered theirs.

But that viewpoint, that viewpoint fails to realize the depth of the relationship. The past had been forgiven, and we were friends. People invite friends to their wedding.

I particularly like the idea of trumpeting to the world that their brand of forgiveness. To me, having the Stoltzfus at my wedding was not to show off the fact that I had friends in the Amish community, it was to display for everyone who knew us the glory of God that results when people obey His commands. To accent this further, when we moved to Jamaica to be missionaries three years later, the Stoltzfus family supported us financially.

Forgiveness, they taught me, is not always a one-time event. Perhaps this is one angle of what Jesus intended when He replied to Peter that we ought to forgive someone not just seven times, but 70 times seven. In other words, Jesus said that to follow its purpose of freedom, it requires follow-up, the rebuilding of a relationship, or as in my case, the creation of a new one.

God blessed the situation even further as Aaron eventually married Sarah's younger sister Lavina. To me, it was as though God allowed the family to be whole again. They now have a beautiful family of children.

This past year when we visited Melvin and Barbara, Aaron and Lavina lived in a house on Aaron's property in Leola, so we don't see them as much. Melvin and Barbara on their farm, bakery in Lidditz. It was the first we'd seen them in a couple years.

We missed one year when we lived in Jamaica, the next year because we had just returned home, so it was good to see them after a two- or three-year gap. For the first time in 11 years, we talked about the accident frankly, but very kindly. Again, they were never condemning, just admitting how hard it was and how they missed Sarah.

I had the chance to express my gratitude and share them the freedom of forgiveness they gave me impacts so many people when I share the story. I cried then as I do now, as I type this. In this land of liberty, that kind of freedom I received often eludes us.

We have so few pictures of what it looks like. God glorified himself in my life, however, by blessing me with a wonderful picture of how people can handle terrible crimes against themselves. My uncle Jim Olson, when commenting on an early manuscript of my story, added, what I have seen in you is that the forgiveness of the Amish gave you the confidence to live life to the full.

Life to the full. Jesus said, I've come that they may have life, and they may have it to the full. That full life is only possible through the freedom of forgiveness received.

Joel Kimes serves as the pastor of Faith Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and I don't know what kind of a church that is. Would be interesting to know, I guess, but not that important for this message. One verse from Luke chapter 6, 7, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 7. This is when Jesus had been invited to the Pharisee's house.

The woman met him there, washed his feet. The Pharisee criticized. Jesus looked at the Pharisee and told the story, the parable of one man who was forgiven 50 talents, another one that was forgiven 500.

He said, which one loves her more? The Pharisee says, I guess the one who got forgiven the most. Jesus said this, wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Let's bow for prayer.

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. I pray that we would acknowledge our condition before you as extremely needy of your forgiveness toward us, and as we realize that, Lord, make us people who love you much. I just commit this time into your hands.

Thank you, God. In Jesus' name, amen.