One year ago, our son was attacked by a stranger in broad daylight in Washington DC, and our family went through a journey that deeply impacted each one of us. From a legal standpoint, this story is still unresolved. Glynn Neal, Phillip’s attacker, has been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial and is being treated in a psychiatric hospital. And while the legal process will eventually determine where he spends the next few years of his life, what truly matters is that his life experienced a shift on this day last year. When the voice in his head told him to kill Phillip, the enemy lost. Where he meant death for Phillip and eternal damnation for Glynn, God saw the possibility of something great. From the moment he recovered from his first surgery, Phillip has been praying for Glynn’s salvation. And even if there are no visible signs yet of this prayer being answered, by faith, we believe that the new life for Glynn Neal is yet to come. Christ died, so that by His stripes Phillip was healed, and so that through His blood Glynn Neal can have a chance for forgiveness and life abundantly. 
If you had asked me a year ago whether I could sincerely pray for a person who tried to kill my child, I would have been uncertain. Part of me had to die so that the new me could confidently say “yes, I can”.
This Sunday, we will celebrate the greatest triumph in human history – the victory of hope born through death. This hope is available to anyone, no matter what they have done or how lost they are. Christ did not give up on anyone, and neither should we!