Today, the Washington Times ran a wonderful profile of our very own Bishop John Rucyahana, Chairman of Prison Fellowship Rwanda. One haunting quote:

I was speaking to prisoners at Gitarama. And I said to them, "Close your eyes. Remember yourself hacking people. Remember them lifting up their hands begging for their lives, and you hacking their hands and arms and cutting their necks."

In about 10 minutes, everyone was crying, sobbing. I said, "Open your eyes. That which makes you cry is what God wants you to repent of."

(Image © Kevin Morrow for the Washington Times)

Comments

[Rachel Coleman]

The bishop's approach is amazing. We like to skip ahead to the restoration part, but that tends to catch up with us in the end. Real repentance is supposed to break our hearts before we try to put the pieces back together.

[Mary DeMuth]

Wow. Grief over our own sin--a deep, true, gut-wrenching realization of how we've hurt people--is the only pathway through repentance and restoration. Great quote.