Miss Katie's Rosewood by Michael Phillips Page B

himself saw.
    The words he’d heard returned to him with tenfold force: I am Damon Teague’s Father .
    Robert’s heart nearly burst with sudden intense love and compassion for the man who had killed his sister.
    He truly loved him!
    He could not condemn this man. He could no longer hate him.
    And he knew in that moment how much God loved him too.
    Thoughts and flashes of light like momentary bursts from heaven tumbled in a cascade of insights into his brain, plunging him straight into God’s heart. Suddenly everything began to fit into place.
    Of course God was his Father!
    If he, weak sinner that he knew himself to be, could find mercy to forgive in his heart, how much more mercy must exist in God’s infinite heart? Was it possible that he could be more merciful than God?
    The answer was obvious—no.
    God must be more merciful and forgiving than any man or woman could even imagine!
    For the first time he grasped what God had been trying to tell him that day beside the stream, and more recently in the alley where he had prayed for forgiveness. There could be no artificial theological divisions within humanity. All humanity is God’s. He is calling His wayward prodigal children home,to the home of His heart, where all will one day call Him Father.
    It was such a simple yet powerful truth. How could it have taken him so long to see it? God’s desire was not to punish but to heal, not to condemn but to restore, not to banish but to reconcile, not to torment but to burn clean.
    Only a few seconds had passed. But they were seconds that would change Robert’s outlook forever. For he did not merely see into the soul of Damon Teague, he had been given a glimpse into the Father heart of God himself. His prayer to be shown who God truly was had been gloriously answered—God was an infinitely forgiving and merciful Father!
    Teague was still looking at him with a fierce expression of hatred.
    â€œGet out of here!” he repeated angrily. “I didn’t ask for you to come.”
    It was all Robert could do to contain what was bursting within him. His heart overflowed with an intense almost physical joy to realize that he had at last truly forgiven the man. A great burden had been lifted in the liberation of forgiveness!
    He tried to smile.
    â€œI’m sorry to cause you annoyance, Mr. Teague,” he said, a slight quiver in his voice the only betrayal of the emotions stirring inside him. “I only thought that maybe you would like to talk to someone . . . that you might want to make things right with God.”
    â€œWith God!” Teague spat back. “What would He want to have to do with me? Or me to do with Him for that matter?”
    â€œDon’t you care that He loves you?”
    â€œLoves me . . . bah, that’s nonsense! It’s little enough He’s ever done for me.”
    â€œIt’s hardly nonsense, Mr. Teague—His love is the truth that holds the world together.”
    â€œHow has He ever loved me?”
    â€œIt’s much that He has tried to do for you,” said Robert. His tone was completely unlike that of his previous exchange with Teague. Rather than lashing out in anger, his was now the voice of compassion, probing that which needed to be exposed to the light of truth.
    â€œWhat are you talking about!” said Teague irritably. “Who prevented Him doing it?”
    â€œYou did, Mr. Teague. Look at what you’ve made of your life. Whose doing is it but your own?”
    â€œWho asked you to come preach to me!”
    â€œI thought you might want—”
    â€œI want nothing from you! You’re the reason I’m stuck in this hole!”
    â€œYou don’t think it has more to do with what you’ve done?” asked Robert, his voice soft, almost tender.
    â€œWhat I’ve done is none of your business!”
    â€œHave you forgotten whom you murdered? If it’s not my business, I don’t know