Personally, I can easily forgive anyone, no matter how brutal the action, or how mean the words.

It all has to do with my faith, as many people can attest.

And no, I'm not saying you'll get money for forgiving people, but there are Rewards.

And for that reason, check out an upcoming article I wrote for this week's paper:

(note: my paper covers Waxahachie, a town south of Dallas)

***********************

SAGU student nets $10,000 for forgiveness

JOEY DAUBEN
The Ellis County Press
WAXAHACHIE – Brandon Biggs forgave his father's killer, and for it, a prison newsletter has given him $10,000 for him to pursue his degree at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

Gregory Biggs was hit and left in the windshield of Chante Mallard's car and died as a result of being left inside her garage, but Brandon, a sophomore pastoral ministry student at SAGU, baffled media and the public when, during trial testimony in June, he forgave Mallard.

Death Row inmates, who write, edit and publish Compassion, a prison newsletter, raised $10,000 from anti-death penalty organizations for Biggs' scholarship.

"His overwhelming desire to forgive this woman, its not something that you generally hear from the public," stated Dennis Skillicorn, Compassion editor, in a recent interview with the Arlington Star-Telegram. "The message that he was trying to give was far more valuable than any amount of money ever given him."

Mallard, a Fort Worth resident, received 50 years in prison for striking Biggs' father, but the reason Brandon publicly forgave her was to focus on a larger message.

"The loss of my father," Biggs stated in the Wednesday, Oct. 22 interview, "has affected me in many ways, but I can't afford to live in unforgiveness and anger. I wanted people to be encouraged and know that there is forgiveness for the worst of crimes."

Biggs said he was persuaded to apply for the scholarship after he found the newsletter to be credible, according to the Star-Telegram.

"I have had many feelings toward the individual who murdered my father, but every time the press would ask me how I felt about [Mallard], I told them that more than anything, I what I felt was forgiveness and compassion toward that person," stated an excerpt from Biggs' application essay. "What many of them did not understand is, that I have personally experienced the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I wanted others to experience it as well."

After his public statements on TV stations and in newspapers this summer, some area residents scolded him, amid cries of a hate crime; Biggs and his father are white, and Mallard is black.

But Brandon Biggs did not buckle.

"I had the chance to share this forgiveness during the victim impact statement of the trial, and I told the person that I wanted them to accept the forgiveness of Jesus Christ as well," Biggs' essay continued. "I wanted the whole world to know that no matter how great the crime, Jesus can still forgive."

The scholarship announcement did surprise some members of the Tarrant County prosecution team.

"Given everything he's suffered, the idea of him getting some financial help to help him toward a career in the ministry I think is a good thing," stated Tarrant County prosecutor Richard Alpert in the interview. "I think it's an unusual source, but I don't think anything that's happened to Brandon in the last two or three years could be called typical."

forgiving someone can be VERY hard sometimes....especially when that person has hurt you or someone you love.....but when i find it hard to forgive someone i think of how much i have been forgiven by God and other people for the things that i have done and it suddenly isn't so hard to forgive anymore.....

Sorry, I was to lazy to do an extra few clicks.
Burns to much energy...
-Sunset

guess so. but lets move to here to post instead of ruining this topic.

Sorry, don't mean to scare you. Haven't you noticed were the only 3 on here and were just posting back and forth... gets tedious after awhile...
-Sunset

uhhh. youre really scaring me now. *looks nervously behind me.* good, parents' door is still closed, still safe... maybe


*sigh*

Heh. I just wanted another excuse to write "happy" and add smiley faces.

Jen, even the happy people try to kill people. But, I'm not saying you would or anything...

Oh, "Don't get mad... Get Glad!"
-Sunset

Who? Me? Kill someone...I wouldn't...do that. Nope, not me. No no no. I'm too happy to kill someone!

Were not trying to kill you... well at least I'm not anyway... :looks nervously at Jen.: I hope you aren't either. :laughs nervously: he... he...
-Sunset

WTF?! are you trying to kill me? *takes about fifty deep slow breaths*

fine then. this is my mood right now



so there.

-Sunset

Don't leave! We want you to SMILE with us! *evil laughter*



Happy day, Jen.

ack! too many smiling faces! must crawl back into hole before im contaminated!!!

Jen, your welcome.
-Sunset

Thanks, sunset. Love, Jen.

deja'vu

there's a circumfelx i think over one of the vowels, but im not sure which. not that this pertains to the subject at hand.

hmmmmmmmmmmm........yah...

its easy to forgive.....
but to forget????
you almost never do...



.. think i had a dream about this

*dejavu* (sorry i dunno the spelling hehehhe)

Oh, Jen, I'm sorry about yout bro. :hugs:
-Sunset