Laramie

On our way out and the way back we drove through Laramie, Wyoming. I remember when I first heard the word Laramie. It was when my mom wanted to name one of our foster kids, she had hoped to adopt, Laramie. I also remember the second time I heard it. It was in 1998, when Matthew Shephard was tied to a fence, beaten and left for dead by two hate-filled murderers because he was gay.

Driving through the town left me feeling sick. Rob and I talked about what we could remember of Matthew's story. My stomach turned. What level of person hates so much that they could take a human being and do the things that they did to Matthew? Evil...pure evil...that's all I could think of. And the thought made me ache. It made my heart ache.

Jesus would have never wanted that. God never wanted that when He so wonderfully made us. But even back at the beginning with Cain and Abel, evil presented itself in the form of murder. In the past couple of years, several people that I know and love have announced their homosexuality. It hasn't made me love them any less, in fact I would say it has perhaps made me love them more!

Here's my view on it: First off, Jesus never abandoned anyone. He didn't turn away from the tax c0llector, or run from the adultress, or ex-communicate the prostitutes. He loved them, He reached out to them. Now, the Bible does say that He forgave them of their sins and told them to sin no more.

I believe as Christians we sometimes get caught up in wanting to be so much like Jesus we forget that we aren't. We aren't the judge, He is. Do I think homosexuality is a sin? Yes, I do. The Bible is clear that it is. But so is adultry, so is alcoholism, so is coveting, so is many, many more things that we all are at some level guilty of.

My job as a Christian is to love. It is with Jesus' love for me that I can love others. But I can't condemn because only Jesus pardoned sins. All I can do is my best to love my friends, my family, well everyone. I can pray for them. Pray that God will work His love in their life and help them to be released from the bondage they are in, no matter what it is.

Hate is not Jesus...it is the exact opposite. It is the devil. It is evil. None of us are perfect. God knows that we are trying to be our best for Him and to follow His commandments to love another as we love ourselves and as Christ has loved us.

This is why my heart broke driving through Laramie. Christ gave His life for you, for me, for the world. He gave His life for Matthew Shephard. He gave His life for the boys that committed that atrocity. But we have a choice, He doesn't force us to accept Him. He wants us to love Him because we want to love Him, not because He makes us.

As my heart sank I couldn't help but pray and ask why things like this happen. This October 7th it will be 10 years since this happened. And on the 12th, 10 years since Matthew passed away. I don't know the in-depth answers to why this happened...but I do know that in some way God will use it for His glory. I do know that God used Matthew's story in me as I was driving through...