Sometimes, life smacks you in the face a bit

Last week, someone we know was picked up by the police.  The charges?  Child pornography.  They believe he may have even abused some children.  The thought of that makes my stomach turn and my heart ache.  Being a mother, it also stirs up a rage in me that I was not fully aware I possessed.  And the knowledge of this act, an act that is not new in this world, unfortunately, but breaks my heart to its very core, is painful.  I.know.the.perpetrator. 

I go back and forth over my rage that these things happen and brokenness for someone who is so clearly torn in sin.  I'm reminded of Romans 3:10 which reads, "as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one."  I'm reminded that any and all sin in my life is not deemed as "less than" by my heavenly Father.  There is no sin that outweighs another.  No one sin gives God pause and causes him to say, "well, ok, that one I can't forgive."  Sin is sin is sin, regardless of how society may let it pass or cringe at it. 

Colossians 1:13-14 states, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  Notice, there are no stipulations here, no "if - then" statements tacked on.  Jesus died for sin, all sin, not just what Christians dub the "lesser" ones.  And I read Ephesians 1:7 which says, "In Him we have  redemption  through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."  Again, I see no rules here.  Forgiveness for trespasses, each and every one, is forgiven and the sinner, regardless of the act, redeemed.

As this story unfolds, my heart aches for his parents, his siblings, those in his inner circle.  They are the ones who will receive the stares, will hear the whispers, and they do not deserve it.  It is my assumption that had they known these events were taking place, they would have intervened.  Instead, God put an end to it in the form of an arrest.  I pray for the victims, for the children who innocently trusted and will bare these scars for a lifetime.  I pray for their healing, for them to walk through this and into victory on the other side of it.  I pray they are protected in their future, that they are spared other circumstances many who have been abused seem to face. 

I pray I would not view this as a sin that is beyond the reach of God's forgiveness and mercy.  I pray I see my own sin to be just as hideous, just as painful to the heart of my heavenly Father.  I pray, as a mother, to protect my own child from these things.  Right now, in the midst of this, it seems all I can do is to lay down the stone in my hand and pray.