Amber is forgiven

This is a devotional I did for FCA at Smithville High School and felt it was worth posting...

I love it when I see a teenager witness for Jesus and whole world watches.

How many of you watch the news?

Often there is no good news about kids or Christians but when there is I take note and you should too-how many of you have heard the names Botham Jean or Amber Guyger? They were the two people who found them selves in a tragic situation that went deadly.

Botham Jean was sitting in his apartment eating i/c. Amber was coming home from a long shift as a police officer. She parked her car on the parking deck and went to her apartment only to see the door was ajar. She went in and seeing a man she thought was a burglar she shot him. It was then she realized she was in the wrong apartment-she had parked on the wrong floor. In a moment everything changed.

Fast forward to last week-in a court room Amber has just been sentenced 10 years in prison for Botham’s death when Botham’s 18-year-old brother asks to speak to Amber. Brandt Jean, took the witness stand and spoke to Amber, saying, "I forgive you, I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you."

"I love you just like anyone else and I'm not going to hope you rot and die," Brandt Jean told Amber "I personally want the best for you. I wasn't going to say this in front of my family, I don't even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you because I know that's exactly what Botham would want for you. Give your life to Christ. I think giving your life to Christ is the best thing Botham would want for you."

Brandt Jean then asked the judge if he could give Amber a hug, a request the judge granted. They embraced for almost a minute. In that moment everything changed again. Forgiveness was given and received.

Judge Tammy Kemp was the judge who granted Brandt’s request, after the trial she spoke to the Jean family, then went over to Amber-she told her Mr. Jean just forgave you, now forgive yourself and she could still live a life of purpose-to which Amber replied-do you really think I can? I don’t know where to start-I don’t even have a Bible. 

Judge Kemp left the courtroom, then returned with a Bible, walked over to Amber and proceeded to say:“You can have my Bible,”. “I have three or four more at home. This is the one I use every day. This is your job for the next month. You read right here: John 3:16. And this is where you start, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever…’ You stop at ‘whosoever’ and say, ‘Amber.  Then you read this whole book of John. That’s where you start.”

Judge Kemp then hugged Amber and said to her :“It’s not because I’m good. It’s because I believe in Christ. I’m not so good. You haven’t done as much as you think you have, and you can be forgiven. You did something bad in one moment in time. What you do now matters.”

Never have I heard of such a powerful witness for Jesus that started a mini revival in a court room. Perhaps Amber was saved that day, who knows? God knows! I wonder what you could do? Just by following Jesus’ command to forgive-you can change everything too.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Brandt Jean lived that-will you?

Then again in Luke 23:34 hanging on the cross Jesus said “Father forgive them-they don’t know what they are doing.” Jesus forgave his murderers even as they were killing him-this is our standard-He is our example.

Is there someone you need to forgive? Is there someone you need to ask for forgiveness? I would like to pray that God would give us all the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive and be forgiven-even today, let us pray…