Jeff, a 20-year-old in our community, has been given more than he deserves. He had deliberately dropped a brick from a highway overpass that went through the windshield of a car driven by Vickie Prantle. It split open her face, put out her right eye, destroyed her teeth, and necessitated a long series of painful surgeries.

Jeff could have expected Vickie to have a vengeful attitude. But even as she awaited the paramedics, Vickie prayed for the grace to forgive the perpetrator.

Later, she asked the judge to give Jeff a second chance, and he was sentenced to 90 days in a boot camp. “She gave me a gift,” he said, “and I’m going to take it to the fullest extent. I’m very thankful she was a Christian. If she wasn’t, I would still be locked up.”

If that troubled young man puts his faith in Jesus Christ, he will fully reward Vickie for her gift. But if not, his guilt will increase on the final judgment day. Jesus said, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Jeff has been given much. But so have you and I. We who know Christ have received something much greater—the salvation and forgiveness that Jesus gives.

What will you do with His gift of grace?  — Herbert Vander Lugt