Weekend Handout May 8/9

Forgiveness?
My father was brutally murdered by 2 young men who were under the
influence of alcohol and drugs.
My father lived alone on the farm where I was raised. He was 90 years old
but enjoyed good health. We often encouraged him to go into a nursing
home so he would not be all alone, but he wasn’t interested. He lived about 2
kilometers from the village where he knew everyone and could visit and have
coffee with friends.
Early one morning while he was sleeping, 3 young men who were on drugs
or alcohol came into the yard to steal gasoline. The gasoline storage tank
was empty. They thought they should check the house to see if there was
anything valuable to steal. They broke down the door and entered. Of course
my father woke up and got out of bed to see what was happening. This
frightened the young men and they thought they should kill him so that he
could not report them as they had criminal records. They beat him severely
with a hammer and thought that he was dead and they left for the village to
spend the rest of the day with friends. They weren’t aware of the surveillance
camera on the property, and were arrested the same day.
My father was, in fact, not dead and drove himself to the home of my cousin …
Read the rest of Helen Liebrecht’s story in this week’s blog post. And be sure to
watch this weekend service focusing on the power of forgiveness!