Picking Cotton

Over the weekend, 60 Minutes made me cry. This normally doesn't happen. Unless I watch the entire Andy Rooney segment at the end. Kidding! (sorta)

But the story about How Accurate is Visual Memory was mind blowing. It tells the incredible story and saga of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton.

To read the transcript or watch video of the show, go here.

In a nutshell, when Jennifer Thompson was 22 she was a victim of a brutal rape. She picked Ronald Cotton out of a police lineup and he was tried and convicted of the crime. 11 years into his life sentence DNA evidence proved that he was innocent and he was released. Thompson was devastated that her eyewitness testimony had caused a man to go to jail and lose 11 years of the prime of her life. She requested a meeting with Cotton and here is her account of how it went:

"I started to cry immediately. And I looked at him, and I said, 'Ron, if I spent every second of every minute of every hour for the rest of my life telling you how sorry I am, it wouldn't come close to how my heart feels. I'm so sorry.' And Ronald just leaned down, he took my hands…and he looked at me, he said, 'I forgive you,'" Thompson remembered.

"I told her, I said, 'Jennifer, I forgive you. I don't want you to look over your shoulder. I just want us to be happy and move on in life,'" Cotton recalled.

"The minute he forgave me, it's like my heart physically started to heal. And I thought, 'This is what grace and mercy is all about. This is what they teach you in church that none of us ever get.' And here was this man that I had hated. I mean, I used to pray every day of my life during those eleven years that he would die. That he would be raped in prison and someone would kill him in prison. That was my prayer to God. And here was this man who with grace and mercy just forgave me," Thompson told Stahl. "How wrong I was, and how good he is."


The two have written a book, Picking Cotton, that I can not wait to read. They are also good friends and travel the country sharing their story and speaking about the dangers of eye witness testimony.

An amazing portrait of grace and mercy. Beautiful!

Drop Your Stone

Excerpt from Bishop Joseph W. Walker's eulogy at Steve McNair's service yesterday:

"People around this world and even here now, have a tension in their spirit. What is the response of the church in a moment like this? Oh, I know that is the big elephant in the room. What says the church in a moment like this?

People want to know. I stand between two places as priest and prophet — as priest to this family and ministering to them, and yet prophet to speak to the nation of what thus sayeth God.

There was a woman one day caught in adultery, and the religious people brought her to Jesus. And they said to Jesus, the law says she should be stoned. Jesus knelt down and drew in the sand. He looked up and said, 'Ye without sin, cast the first stone.'

They began to drop their stones, from the youngest to the oldest. And I have come to declare from the youngest to the oldest in America and over this world, it's time to have a stone-dropping service.

Drop your stone.

Next time you write about Steve McNair, drop your stone. Next time you text somebody, drop your stone. The next time you Twitter, drop your stone. Those of you in the barbershops, those of you walking the streets or on the corner, drop your stones.

What I do know about this man is that he loved God. And he was just like us. Imperfect. But he knew God."

Amen.

Six Prayers God Always Answers (Results May Vary)

I just finished one of the best books on the subject of prayer that I've ever read. It's called Six Prayers God Always Answers *Results May Vary by Mark Herringshaw and Jennifer Schuchmann. Put it on your "to read" list. It's excellent!

All of us offer up prayers. Even those who say God don't exist. Prayers such as:

"Oh my God!"

"Please Lord, don't let that cop pull me over..."

"Please, God, don't let him die!"

"Why me, God?"

"God, she's beautiful..."

The concept of the book is simple. Whether you believe God answers prayers or he doesn't, there are six types of prayers He always responds to. Of course, God being God, rarely are these answered the way we expect. (He is God, afterall!)

Bargaining prayers. Questioning prayers. Prayers for justice. Desperate prayers. Audacious prayer. Prayers for beauty and happiness. Even selfish prayers. This book takes a really interesting and entertaining look at how Gods responds to each of these. Often in ways we often don't understand. But always with our best interests in mind. He answers. The trick is for us to learn to listen. This book helped me to understand how to do that a little better.

To learn more, check out the Six Prayers web site. The authors also have a new book out, Nine Ways God Always Speaks that I'm gonna track down next.

(If your a fellow Church Streeter, you can find Six Prayers in our Church Library!)

Fearless

Max Lucado's new book, Fearless, is coming out soon. You can read the excellent first chapter here. for free.

Stay fearless.

Who Will Cry When You Die?

The last two weeks have been intense.

On a national scale, of course you had the deaths of MJ and Farrah.

On a personal level, my father in law has been in the hospital. A woman who was like a 2nd mother to my wife passed on after a long, courageous fight with cancer. I caught word that a business associate, a guy I interviewed with for a job a few years back, had a motorcycle accident and died at the age of 48.

48!?!?

And that's just my little corner of the world. Death has been all around. But then again, it always is. It seems to be in the spotlight these last few weeks, thanks mostly to the sensationalism of MJ's death. (I mean, the guy's funeral is going to be in the LA Staples Center of all places!)

In watching one of the non-stop news memorials on MJ, I was struck by the number of people who were absolutely bawling uncontrollably at the news that he was gone.

It made me think a few things. One, to each their own, but I can't imagine being that torn up over a death of a person that I had never met. I shed some tears when Johnny Cash died. I imagine I would if something happened to Bono, Steve Nash or President Obama (now there's a trio!). But for the most part, I can't imagine getting that worked up over someone who I only knew through watching them on TV or the Interwebs.

Now, somebody I know and love...that's a different matter entirely.

Which brought me to my second thought: Who will cry when you die? That's the name of an incredible book by one of my favorite authors, Robin Sharma.

It's also a powerful thought. What do you and I need to accomplish to make our short life here on Earth count? Who are the people we want to become, so that when we pass from this life into the next, tears on Earth are shed from the people that we've helped - just as tears of joy in Heaven are shed as we're welcomed into Eternity.

So that's what's on my mind.

Who will cry when you die?

Who do you think? Who is it for you?

Confusing Christians with Christ

My latest musical obsession is Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown. Not quite the classic American Idiot was, in my opinion, but brilliant none-the-less. Like American Idiot, it's a concept album, this time following a punk-rock couple (Christian and Gloria) as they find their way in a new century already going down the tubes.

While the "ballads" section gets a bit sappy for my tastes, the up-tempo stuff totally shreds. Lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong has incorporated a Beatles-esque sense to his songwriting that more and more rewarding with each listen.

It's also obvious from the lyrics, that Armstrong has a major beef with Christianity. At least, those of the "organized religion, Christian-right" variety. Here's a description of one of the songs, "East Jesus Nowhere" from a recent Rolling Stone interview with the band:

"Armstrong wrote "East Jesus Nowhere," a scalding rebuke of fundamentalist religion, after attending a church service where a friend's baby was baptized. The friend later asked him, "Was it really that bad?""

Now I'm not going to pretend to know what Billie Joe Armstrong's hang-ups with Christianity are. If I had to guess they'd be about hypocritical leaders who claim to be Christian but pass judgment and condemn others. Perhaps it was a truly scarring "religious" experience at an early age.

It could be any number of things. I would just ask him to do one thing:

Don't confuse Christians with Christ.

Christians are people. Which means we're going to screw up. A church, (in the organized religion, place to worship on Sunday sense of the word) then is a collection of screw-ups. (present company included!) A collection of failed, broken people that are going to make mistakes. It's in our DNA.

But Christ is different.

Where a Christian might be too unforgiving, Christ won't. Where a Christian might say the wrong thing or offer no forgiveness, Christ won't. Where a Christian can say one thing but do another, Christ won't.

I'd also ask Billie Joe to remember that he's in good company. Christ himself held his strongest rebukes for the religious hypocrites of his day. That Pharisee spirit is very much alive and well today. If it weren't, we wouldn't have brilliant albums like 21st Century Breakdown inspire us to do better.

And, considering the last song on the album is the positive anthem "See the Light" deep down I think Billie Joe agrees.

Smile :)

"Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other -- it doesn't matter who it is -- and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other."

-- Mother Teresa