Friday, May 1st

I imagine that each of you has read Michael's latest email newsletter he sends out each month.  He so beautifully wrote about his experiences with the families of the executed men this week.  As Andrew and Myu were being led to the execution site, tied to the crosses, and eventually shot, they were singing Matt Redman's song "10,000 Reasons" (along with Amazing Grace).  Michael and I both listened to this song today and cried.  We'll never listen to it again without thinking of Andrew and Myu, I hope the same is true for you.  Read the words of the last verse. 

And on that day when my strength is failing  
The end draws near and my time has come  
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending  
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

I do not write as eloquently as my incredible husband, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on this tragedy.

There is no denying that these guys committed a crime and deserve punishment. I don't think they would have even argued that. For me, I see the transformation they made in their lives, the lives of the other prisoners, the lives of the guards in the prison.  I know family members and close friends of these guys.  I hear the stories of the transformation of the prison that they were in, a transformation that happened because of them. I hear the stories of the lives they've changed. That prison is a better and safer place because they were in it. They stopped prison riots. They stopped prison killings.  They started classes to help others reform and become productive citizens once they left prison. They found faith.  Even on their last day, they had earned so much respect from the prison guards that they convinced the guards to let all of those to be executed out in the fresh air together for one last visit with their families.  These two guys knew they were never getting out, but they reformed their own lives and the lives of others anyway. If anything, they are a "success story" of a Bali prison. What is prison for but being reformed? Shouldn't that be the goal of prison, to change? Taking their lives did not help society. It just hurt it. It hurt the people still living. The executed are no longer bound by walls and prison bars. They are no longer captives. They are free. It's the people still living who are hurting and grieving.

These are painted by Myu