‘Stop Running’

One of the privileges of ministry is to see "how the story went on". A man once came to me for counselling, hobbling up the steps. He had taken another man's wife, he said, they had been caught in flagrante delicto, and the husband had gone beserk with an axe. It was a fight (almost) to the death, where various people were injured, and he himself had one leg hacked through the bone. It sounded like the movies. So a warrant was issued for his arrest. But as soon as he was discharged from hospital he fled, to escape the law -- and came to see me. We spoke, and we prayed, and we spoke ... through several sessions. I said the best thing he could do was to stop running, and go back and talk to the magistrate. The magistrate received him, spoke with him, and had the case struck from the roll. OBSERVATION: It might have gone otherwise, so I admired this man's courage. He was changed after that. He had come out from under a heavy burden. (Hell hath no fury like a spouse betrayed. I have seen it several times).