Forgiveness is Divine

Terrible tragedies abound in the news, and we are used to hearing anger and accusations of blame that are often wholly justified. But on occasion we hear words of forgiveness, words that are unfathomable because we know we could never attain that state of grace.

In 2008 Dong Yun Yoon, a Korean immigrant to the U.S., lost his wife and two baby daughters when a Marine jet crashed into his house near San Diego.

Yoon, sobbing into a tissue at his destroyed house, also asked for prayer for the jet’s Marine pilot, who ejected safely from the F/A-18D Hornet after his training mission went awry Monday.

"I don’t have any hard feelings," Yoon, 37, told reporters. "I know he did everything he could."

Three months ago a white supremacist slaughtered nine members of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Said the daughter of one of the victims:

“I forgive you. You took something very precious away from me. I will never get to talk to her ever again—but I forgive you, and have mercy on your soul … You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. If God forgives you, I forgive you.”

On February 11th Oklahoma City assistant coach Monty Williams lost his wife, Ingrid, 44, when Susannah Donaldson, 52, drifted into her lane and hit her head-on. Both women died. In his eulogy on Friday Monty Williams gave a moving tribute to Ingrid, the mother of his five children, but the part that everyone most remembers is this:

I'm going to close with this and I think it's the most important thing that we need to understand. Everybody's praying for me and my family, which is right, but let us not forget that there were two people in this situation,and that family needs prayer as well. We have no ill will towards that family.

In my house we have a sign that says, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” We cannot serve the Lord if we don't have a heart of forgiveness. That family didn't wake up wanting to hurt my wife. Life is hard. It is very hard, and that was tough. But we hold no ill will towards the Donaldson family. We, as a group, brothers united in unity, should be praying for that family because they grieve as well so let's not lose sight of what's important. God will work this out. My wife is in heaven. God loves us. God is love.