Recently I had the opportunity to be part of a radio interview based around an article I’d written for Priority! magazine. The article, entitled “Radical Forgiveness,” relates the story of my friends Chuck and Auburn Sandstrom. In 2009, Chuck was brutally attacked while having a car towed from a rental property he owned. He went into a coma for a time and suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury. Today he is alive, walking and talking, however, the affects of the attack still remain.

The amazing part of Chuck and Auburn’s story is that they chose to forgive Chuck’s attacker. And rather than looking to get him a longer sentence, they actually fought to have his sentence lightened, believing that what he needed was not time in prison to make him more bitter, but rather help for his problems with alcohol and the chance to provide for his family.

I have a great respect for both Chuck and Auburn, and their choice to forgive. And yet I know that forgiveness is not easy. It has to be a daily choice. I imagine Auburn having to wake up each day and think of what was stolen from her during that attack, and as a wife myself, I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to choose forgiveness on a daily basis.

And yet the amazing thing is how far the ripples of forgiveness extend. During the radio interview, many people were on the phone line in addition to myself. Amongst them were Chuck and Auburn, their pastor, the woman who replaced Chuck at his former job, and the girlfriend of Chuck’s attacker, Erika.

Erika described the change that she had seen in her boyfriend, Michael. How he was now much slower to speak and quicker to listen. How he cared about other’s opinions in a way that he hadn’t before. How he was blown away that someone could forgive him after what he had done and how once he got out of prison he wanted to live a life that Chuck and Auburn would be proud of. A life deserving of the forgiveness he had received.

Erika shared her own shame over being the girlfriend of a man who could do something so horrific. And yet, not long after she had found out about the attack, she discovered that she was pregnant with Michael’s second child, which only doubled her feelings of shame. She described how four times she had driven to the abortion clinic to terminate her pregnancy and how four times she had driven away, unable to go through with it.

As she spoke, I had goosebumps. And I couldn’t help but think about the amazing power of forgiveness. I wonder — how might Erika have felt or reacted differently if Chuck and Auburn had been bent on vengeance and retribution? How might she have chosen to deal with her shame if they had chosen to see her as the enemy instead of embracing her as a friend (which is what they have done)?

The power of forgiveness cannot be contained. Instead, it moves out in ripples that stretch farther and farther beyond ourselves, having an impact on more lives than we can imagine. During this season of Lent, we celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ would leave His place in heaven to walk among us and to die a criminal’s death so that we might be forgiven. The awesome forgiveness of God has spilled over into new life for us! And we who have claimed that life are called to forgive as He forgave, and continues to forgive, us. I like the way that Michael put it when he said that he wanted to live a life worthy of the forgiveness he received. That should be the aim of every believer.

This Lent as you celebrate the awesome miracle of new life that we have in Christ, stop and think about the power of forgiveness and what it has meant in your own life and in the lives of those around you. Think about how God has forgiven you, of course, but also think about the times when you have been forgiven by someone that you wronged or hurt and how that has affected you. And if you have the opportunity to extend forgiveness to someone, don’t delay! For there is no way to measure the impact that one act of forgiveness can have as it continues to ripple outward.

If you are interested in reading the article “Radical Forgiveness” or listening to the radio interview, you can find both at the links below:

http://www.prioritypeople.org/article.php?articleID=732

http://wor710.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5749693

Or, to learn more about Chuck and Auburn and their ministry, visit:

http://www.chuckscircleoflove.com/