Robert Godwin spent his Easter weekend fishing, having lunch with his
middle-aged children, and indulging in a favorite hobby, strolling the
Cleveland streets with a shopping bag looking for the aluminum cans he so often
collected.
As Godwin, 74, was walking just south of Interstate 90 on
Sunday afternoon he was approached by Steve Stephens, who police say pulled out
a camera phone, and then a gun, and murdered Godwin. His murderer’s only
excuse, the recent estrangement from his girlfriend.
The manhunt for Stephens has now expanded out of Ohio and
into four other states, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and Michigan; after
the brazen homemade video of his victim’s execution was posted on his Facebook
page.
I watched an interview on CNN tonight between Anderson
Cooper and three of Mr. Godwin’s adult children. As the result of a question
regarding how they were holding up, and their perspectives about the person who
took the life of their father, one daughter responded, (paraphrased)
“Our dad taught us how to love God. He taught us how to
fear God. We hold absolutely no animosity against the man who took our father’s
life. We just want to wrap our arms around the man, and say, ‘We forgive you.
And our father forgives you.’ It’s what our parents taught us. They didn’t just
talk it. They lived it. We would ask our dad, ‘Are you really going to forgive
that man?,’ (referring to this or that person). And he would say, ‘Yes. I am.
It’s what our Savior would do.’ It’s only because we know God that we are able to
love our father’s murderer and pray for him.”
And with this, her two other two siblings nodded their
heads in agreement.
Pt. 2
And as I sat listening to the
interview, I could only shake my head in abject amazement.
Can we say, “Amazing Grace?”
So much like the words and attitude of
Christ, Himself, as He hung on the cross, and submitted Himself to the
vindictiveness and hypocrisy of man, and the will of His Father.
“Father
forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Robert taught his children well, and
in words, and in “so many words” he taught them to model their lives after the
Savior, as he also modeled his own life after the God of the universe; who put
on flesh and dwelt among us.
The Apostle Paul admonished us to,
“Let me be your example
here, my
brothers. Let my example be the standard by which you can tell who are the
genuine Christians among those about you. For there are many, of whom I have
told you before and tell you again now, even with tears, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ. These men are heading for utter destruction -
their god is their own appetite, their pride is in what they should be ashamed
of, and this world is the limit of their horizon.
But we are citizens of
Heaven. Our outlook goes beyond this world to the hopeful expectation of the
Savior who will come from Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will re-make these
wretched bodies of ours to resemble His own glorious body, by that power of His
which makes Him the Master of everything that is.” (Philippians 3:17-21)
Pt. 3
“Let me be your example
here.”
A verse which can be “boiled down” to two words.
“Copy me.”
As a formal mentor figure I appreciate these words; perhaps far
more than the average man on the street. As someone who sets himself out as a
teacher, helper and encourager, I must be not only willing, but able to also
say, “Copy me.”
If we are to believe the testimony of Robert Gibson’s children,
and if their words and example provide us anything to emulate, we can be sure
that he left them an excellent example.
I love the New Testament book of 1st Peter, and one
verse in particular.
“We serve a God who judges
men according to their actions.” (1st
Peter 1:17)
“We would just like to wrap our arms
around the man and say,
…‘We forgive you. And our father
forgives you’”
Amazing words. Amazing grace.
Yes, I think Robert taught his children well.
by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending
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