Murder Charge Follows a Lifetime of Careless Decisions

Author: rmharrington -- This Article Has Received - 288 views

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How To Break Free From a Lifetime of Wrong Choices

In reading the morning edition of the Charlotte Observer, I see where a 31-year old Iraq war veteran is in jail with murder charges handing over his head. The uncontrolled consumption of alcohol brings about this tragic moment. In the early hours of Monday am, this young man made the most devastating decision of his entire life. He got drunk, climbed behind the wheel of a vehicle, and brought hurt and pain into the Christmas world of many local families.

The accident was an almost a foregone conclusion to a lifetime of careless decisions. This veteran, a Charlotte resident, has a history of DWI offenses. He also has on record, dating back to 2001, charges pertaining to drugs, resisting arrest, and assault on an officer.

We cannot believe that this veteran is an evil man. He has fought for our country, for our rights, for our freedoms. Surely he has not, within his heart, a desire to cause deliberate harm to those who live in this nation. Yet this conclusion to a lifetime of careless choices leaves a 26-year old mother dead, and it leaves her 4-year old son struggling for life.

Oh Mercy, Where is Your Touch

We live in a nation that has lost all concept of mercy. For every mistake, it seems that blood is the only acceptable payment. We seek scapegoats. We blame others for every failure. Yet politicians point fingers and sniffle when their own failings are suddenly thrust into the limelight. We rob the poor and give to the rich. We make orphans and widows while corporate leaders leap from burning buildings with their backs protected by a financial golden parachute. Where is balance? Where is true justice?

Will this Charlotte born veteran pay a full cost for his careless decisions?

Likely not, for even though we lack mercy, we cringe at the expense of keeping men behind bars. A very young woman is dead. Her child may follow. Family and friends ache on the inside. Yea even the family of the slayer.

How do we rightly mix mercy with justice? Perhaps prison time as a result of one of the earlier charges could have prevented this moment of greatest suffering. Who can know? Who can understand? Perhaps too much mercy has already been extended.

Breaking the Bonds of Past Choices

How do we end the eternal suffering that follows a lifetime of careless decisions? How do we get people to stop making such choices?

I am not here as the answer man, dear reader – although I have traveled both sides of this road. I have been a decent and caring father, but I have also driven vehicles while I was drunk. I have worked long hard hours in order to provide a decent life for me and mine, but I have also stolen things that belonged to others. I have ever remained physically faithful to my wife, yet I have committed crimes of lust in my mind and heart.

By the grace of a loving God, I never killed another human being. By the grace of a loving God, I have never paid the price for drunk driving, or stealing, or having a wild, youthful flaunt into the endless night. But for another crime, perhaps one far worst than those mentioned, though it was but a crime of the mind, I have paid a huge price.

I have been behind bars. For three years I lived in captivity. For three years I received first hand the punishment for a lifetime of careless decisions in a single area that led me into the path of total destruction. So yes, I feel for this young veteran. I know the burden he now bears. And I can also believe that he is, in his own mind, a decent man.

Yet a woman is dead.

Perhaps you too are caught up in a lifetime of careless decisions. You may be decent, hard working, and caring in many areas. You may honor your parents. You may love and support your children. You may be true to your wife. Perhaps you don’t drink at all.

But maybe there is in your life some area where sin masters all that you do and think and are. This doesn’t have to be so. You need not wait until someone dies. You need not wait until destruction consumes the good along with the bad. There is a God of heaven and earth, a Holy Creator with the power to change hearts, minds, and the nature of your daily decisions.

Come now, to Jesus Christ. Hurry. The clock ticks quickly. The days rush by. Within moments, the cost of sin in this physical world may come due. Yea, even soon will come an eternal price that must be paid by someone if not yourself.