Reading from He’s My Brother, by John Perkins and Thomas Tarrants, III
“I will never forget a time during my adolescence that a group of Klansmen decided, for no apparent reason, to “teach a less” to a friend of mine. I went to school with him, and we could not have been any more than 14 or 15 when it happened.
He was walking along the road to town, minding his own business, not causing a bit of trouble for anyone, when a carload of Klansmen spotted him, They liked their odds- six to one- and decided they wanted to “have some fun” with this nigger.
Their idea of having fun was to jump him and beat him nearly half to death. But that was not enough. So while several of them held him down, one of the attackers got out his hunting knife and castrated him, while my friend screamed. They flung him into the ditch and went on their way.
Somehow the mutilated boy survived. He spent a couple of years lying in bed, and has been paralyzed ever since. “
I could barely finish reading this recount, blurred by the tears that covered my eyes. What hatred exists! What irrational insanity has replaced the purity God intended for the human mind? And how much our Lord weeps.
The last few weeks God ushered me to peer into a room of His heart; the room of his emotion. It’s opened only a tiny crack, but the light that pours out shakes my heart-it’s all too consuming.
What pain fills His heart! He wept greatly at the merciless beating of his precious child. But there is a part of his heart that I can’t understand.
It hit me last night when I was singing “Mighty to Save”
Everyone needs compassion,Love that's never failing;Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness,The kindness of a Saviour;The Hope of nations.
In the past I had only thought of myself in these lyrics. Yes, I need compassion, I need forgiveness. When I sang these words last night, I pictured the Klansmen.
Who can our God be that loves them? What does that say of his heart? He screams out at the injustice of the oppressed and yet reaches out in compassion to the oppressor. “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Ps 86:15)
O, I pray God for a heart with your compassion.
