photographs interspersed with tributes to those killed and injured in the attacks. At Pastor Scribes’ request, they also included tributes for soldiers killed anywhere in service around the world that week. Behind the visual presentation was music with a message including Ray Boltz’s moving song, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.” Soon there was not a dry eye in the building, and few among those watching as people came to realize the tragedy of the lives cut short by unbridled hate.
There were solos and old-time congressional singing of familiar songs including, “In the Garden,” “It Is Well with My Soul,” and “Amazing Grace.” It was like a family sing-along with words that comforted and refreshed the soul. “What a contrast,” thought Paul Phillips as he held Samantha’s hand, remembering the funeral for her dad that had started his journey. “If the Curtain opened now, I am sure I would not see so many of those dark things.”
What Paul thought was absolutely true, for that service was under God’s protection. The forces of darkness had abandoned the fight in the building and now sought to draw the television audience away.
After Pastor Scribes completed his message, which once again focused on forgiveness, the president stood and walked to the podium.
“I stand before you today not as the president of the United States, but as a grieving friend who has been privileged to spend the past several hours with these precious hurting people,” he said, opening his hands to indicate the families and relatives present before him. “I wish all Americans could have joined with Janet and me to hear their stories and share their tears. I am thankful for the beautiful video we were able to watch together; in a small way, it painted a picture of the loss they have suffered individually and the loss we have suffered together as a nation. These were not people who can be easily replaced, for they were men and women of character, faithful to their spouses and children and their faith in the Creator and giver of all life. They truly represent the foundation upon which this nation was built, and the only hope it has for the future.
“We live in perilous times, as this morning again evidences. Hateful people seek only to kill, steal, and destroy all that we hold dear. These are times which require courage and sacrifice, character, and forgiveness; the very best there is in people. It is what we expect from those who are men and women of faith. It is what has been found in this city, and in this place.
“We are gathered today among heroes. Two of these heroes stood and fought. One of them is a pastor who literally ran to the terrorists and offered his life, diverting the attention of the terrorist long enough for Officer Sally Johnson to find the gun which had been lost. Tom Campy fell to the ground from the wounds he suffered while defending the innocents whose only ‘crime’ was a desire to attend a church service. The horror of the possible mass destruction was eliminated, and God was gracious, but we have before us the remnants of the pain, hurt and death launched here only a week ago.
“My friends watching across America and around the world, there are lessons here in Williams we need to learn quickly. Had you been with me in our time with the families and friends of those needlessly and indiscriminately struck down by the killers, you would have seen the difference between a religion of hate where self-appointed judges carry out what they perceive to be the wrath of their god without mercy, and the God of these suffering men and women of faith who motivates them with love to reach out to share their faith and leave judgment and wrath in the hands of God. There were many words of anguish and many questions, but there was no hate or desire to strike back apart from self-defense or preventing future attacks.
“Some in America — and around the world — seek to equate passion for the Christian God with the passionate religious hate which motivated the killers. That thought would never enter the mind of one who walked with those who are suffering and grieving here in Williams. Their passion is expressed by reaching out even as Jesus did when He walked the earth and gave Himself up for all who would put down their wants and desires to serve Him. They will tell you of their faith and pray that you become a believer, but no one fears that they will kill you if you choose not to believe or decide to believe something different. I am thankful to be one of them. And just like them, I have made my choice to be on God’s side. Tomorrow I will join with fellow brothers and sisters to stand before God in repentance for the things we have done and are doing in this nation that offends Him, and things we have not done that we know we should have. Many will gather in this place, and I hope you will find a place or make your home a place for others to gather and make their choice.
“As we grieve, we must not lose hope, for the God of love is also the God of the impossible. He is the only one who can change hearts and turn a soul dominated by hate and evil into one filled with love and light. Yes, we must forgive, even as Pastor Scribes just said, and we must fight to defend ourselves against those who seek to kill us. We must pray for changed hearts; both our own and those who have chosen to be our enemies.
“Can God change a heart filled with hate and evil into a heart of compassion?” He paused to let the question sink in as he spread the copy of Susan Stafford’s note before him.
“I want to read a portion of something to you which is indisputable proof that we must not respond in hate but in prayer that a people of hate be changed, for they can be changed. Listen carefully,” and he began to read.
If you have found this note, hopefully, by God’s grace I am dead and died better than I lived. My life was a waste. I was evil and cruel beyond human imagination, cold and uncaring until my eyes were opened to the truth of what I had become and I screamed in horror at myself.
I WAS the one you called the Williams’ shooter.
There were audible gasps from the crowd as they realized what the president had just read. He continued slowly and deliberately so that every word would be heard and understood.
I am solely responsible for all the hurt, injury and death, and am without excuse. I deserve the cruelest punishment and death ever devised for what I did, and I know what that is. It is crucifixion. I deserve to die that way.
I cannot change what I did or I would. I am so sorry now for the pain and anguish I have caused. I am unworthy of anyone’s forgiveness, so I will not even ask.
“This is only a portion of a note that was taken from the body of Susan Stafford this morning after she was killed by terrorists. She was taken as she stood and confronted them when they sought to kill the children at Kingdom Daycare, less than a mile from where I now stand.
“Think about that carefully — the shooter who killed and hurt so many in this city, dying in one of those red jackets as she stood to defend children against those who were doing exactly what she herself had done. How can this be?
“The answer is right here,” he said as he picked up Pastor Scribes’ Bible that had been left on the podium at the president’s request. “Let me read 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!’
“There it is. God removed the old in Susan Stafford’s heart and replaced it with a new heart of love; His heart. Now, if God can do that with a serial killer who terrorized this city for months, He can surely do that with anyone whose life is dominated by hate.
“Some believe that hate can be removed by legislation or compromise, or a change in foreign or military policy. They are well intended but ignore the lessons of history and the intricacies of the human heart. Hate can only be removed by God, and only then by the gift of a new heart.
“As we seek this day to remember those who are hurting and grieving, let us honor their memory and those who have died at the hands of terrorist attacks. Let’s honor them by committing to join together to pray without ceasing that hearts be changed so that hate
