Each week, I volunteer at the Pregnancy Help Center as an Options Consultant. The inmates help with landscaping needs at the Center under a guard's supervision. I had seen them at the Center several times, but I had never spoken to any of them.
My gut reaction was to go back inside, but I was already running 5 minutes late. So, I cautiously approached my car.
The guard was yelling at them, "It's going to the back! Charlie, get it! There's one by the front tire! You—walk over to the front tire!"
The inmates scrambled around the car as if they were doing a Chinese fire drill. Eventually, the guard noticed that I was waiting a safe distance away from the commotion, watching the inmates crawl around my parking space.
He apologized to me and told me that they were trying to rescue 5 baby bunnies from the parking lot. Apparently, the bunnies thought that the bottom of my tires would be a safe hiding place.
So there I was...
Bent over on the asphalt with a bunch of convicted criminals, and I realized that these scary-looking, orange-wearing men were genuinely concerned with the welfare of a few furry rabbits. We laughed together and worked as a team to relocate each bunny. I didn't expect to feel a brotherly bond with the men by the end of the ordeal. Then again, we did save 5 lives together.
I was humbled by the experience.
I had expected the worst from these men. I expected foul language, inappropriate looks, and all sorts of unpleasantness as I approach them from my high horse. When I dismounted from that prideful place and got on my knees in the humble dirt, I experienced something beautiful.
Later that night, I read Job 31:15 through new eyes. It reads, "Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same God form us both in the womb?"
Clearly, those men have made poor choices. They are serving time behind bars as the consequence for their actions.
Yet, who am I to judge them? The same Holy Hands that made me in my mother's womb uniquely and masterfully created each of them. The Creator loves each of them as much as He loves me.
On this Good Friday, I remember that Christ died for ALL people. His sacrifice atones for ALL sin. There is no sin larger than Christ's love. Christ's open arms, stretching from one side of the cross to the other, can redeem anything. Let me say that again—ANYTHING. He extends judgment-free salvation to everyone who calls upon His name, regardless of past mistakes, secret struggles, even future transgressions.
I am learning to view everyone as a child of God—including the criminal, the unrepentant, and the hard-to-love. Christ died for people such as these. He offers a second and a third and a seventy-times-seventh chance after each of our failures, even with full knowledge that we will fail again. Certainly, I can withhold judgment and unleash love on the people that Christ died to save.
So, let's honor Christ's sacrifice on this Good Friday by imitating his judgment-free love towards ALL people.