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Key Bible Verse: Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? (Psalm 130:3). Bonus Reading: Psalm 130:1-8

When I met Magalie, a Haitian illegally brought to Boston by her father and then abandoned, she was homeless and pregnant by a man who wouldn't provide for her. She considered abortion, then decided to kill herself. We intervened; seven months later she gave birth to a beautiful son.

But Megalie couldn't get a job. Obtaining a green card is a long, expensive process. A "friend" offered to help for a fee. She borrowed $500, paid him, and signed the papers he prepared. As the judge at the court hearing asked questions based on those papers, Magalie realized that, to qualify her for political asylum, the man had fabricated her life story. She wouldn't lie, and the judge set a deportation hearing date.

In tears, Magalie asked for my help. I had her write her true story, admit that she'd signed false statements, and pledge that, given a chance, she'd obtain papers properly and work hard.

At the deportation hearing, the judge began asking memorized questions. A trembling Magalie cut him off, confessing that the document before him was false, and asking to substitute her true story. The surprised judge went "off the record" to read her story and my accompanying letter. [continued 8/28]

—John Ensor in The Great Work of the Gospel

My Response: Have I appealed to a God who is both just and loving?

Thought to Apply: Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. —William Shakespeare (in Henry VI)

Adapted from The Great Work of the Gospel (Crossway Books/Good News Publishers, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Deliver me, God, from an easy familiarity that fails to recognize Your overwhelming power and hatred of sin.

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