We were sitting in the front room of the house when we heard the commotion. A quick look out the window revealed the scene that was the source of the noise. I do not know how long they had been parked there, but there they were and they were making a scene – he was!

We were living in the house across the parking lot from the church building. Their truck was next to the building. She was screaming and doing her best to block his fists as they were coming at her over and over again. I could not bear to watch, I did not take time to put on shoes and walked barefooted toward them to see first if I was just imagining things and second see what I could do. As I came within view of the truck, I asked, “Is everything alright?” The woman shouted through tears, “Call the police, he is going to kill me.” He warned me, “This is none of your business, you need to leave!” I kept walking, and went in the back door of the building and used a phone to call the police.

The police must have been close by because two cruisers pulled up within a couple of minutes. As soon as he saw them coming, he jumped out of the truck into a small building and out the back window into the wooded lot behind the church building. One officer approached the truck to talk with the woman another gave chase into the woods. He came back in a few minutes with the man in cuffs.

I went back into the house while the officer’s performed their duties. An half an hour later, an officer was on my front steps talking to me after the couple drove off together. No one was arrested! The officer explained to me that no matter what I saw and what they could see from her bruising and tears, she refused to press charges, so they had no choice but release him.

I was angry!

I was angry at the man who was beating his girlfriend, fiancé, or wife right in front of me. I was angry at her for not pressing charges, knowing he would do this again and again. I was angry at a system whose hands were tied preventing them from doing what they knew they needed to do. That event from over 20 years ago, still upsets me.

Would you have been angry? I know you would have. Anytime we see a violent crime against others we are upset.

Now you know a little about how God feels at any sin. He knows the danger. He knows the pain and suffering. He knows what the destroyer, accuser, that snake, and prowling predator, Satan does to mankind. That is why God hates sin. That is why He had to do something about it. That is why He appeased His own wrath through the death of His Son on the cross.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10).

-Scott