| Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” |
We find ourselves in difficult situations where others have wronged us. We might feel betrayed or insulted. It crushes the life from us and clenches our fists. It’s not a good feeling.
We know about forgiveness but that seems all too difficult.
Is there another way?
It is something that Mike May struggled with, but it came out of his profession. May is a police officer.
In 1975, suspected criminal Wendell Beard slipped out of police handcuffs, jumped out of a police station window, and landed on a sidewalk 14 feet below. Officer May followed him out the window but shattered his right ankle and broke his left heel when he landed. He took disability pension, went to law school, and gave Beard no further thought.
Then, for some reason, 43 years later, Beard crossed his mind. May decided to track down the man who had taken his livelihood.
After locating Beard at a prison near Cumberland, Maryland, he wrote him a letter:
“I suggested that, at his age, perhaps he might be able to exert a positive influence on younger inmates.”
May followed up his letter with a phone call. He asked me if I knew about the Unger case.
The Unger case was a ruling by the 2012 Court of Appeals that found a serious flaw in how judges instructed Maryland juries. The ruling opened the way for Beard and dozens of inmates to ask for new trials.
In August of 2015, a Baltimore judge gave Wendell Beard the sentence of time served, effectively releasing him from prison.
In the audience, that day was Mike May. He had come to support his release. While May could be said to have been the victim, having sustained a career-ending injury when he chased Beard, he doesn’t see it that way.
“After all,” says the former police officer, “Wendell was trying to get away from me, not hurt me. I decided to jump out of the window. My leg still bothers me, but at least some of that has to do with my age.”
Time can give us the same perspective Mike May took. It was time to let go and stop blaming others, even for the wrongs they had done.
That’s what makes the prayer Jesus taught so difficult. “Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.”
Would we apply the same standard to others that we hope God applies to us?
Life is too short to hold onto trouble. Perhaps, it’s time you let it go.
-Robert G. Taylor-
robertgtaylor.com
