Posted on 03/14/2005 4:24:40 AM PST by beyond the sea
Just two days after moving into her Duluth apartment, Ashley Smith is up late unpacking.
At about 2 a.m. Saturday the 26-year-old runs out of cigarettes and heads to a local convenience store to buy a pack.
When she returns, she sees a man in a truck was waiting outside her door. She had seen the man earlier but didn't think much of it.
She gets out of her car and shuts the door.
She hears the door on the truck close at about the same time. Fear rises in her.
Holding her key in her hand, she makes her way to her front door. As she slides her key into the lock, she turns to see the man from the truck. She screams. He pokes a gun into her ribs.
"Stop screaming," he demands. "I won't hurt you if you stop screaming."
She fears the worst — that she will be raped and killed.
"Do you know who I am?" he asks.
He is wearing a dark blazer beneath a red ski parka but no shirt. He has a new UGA cap on his head.
She doesn't know him.
He removes the cap, showing his shaved head.
"Now do you know who I am?" he asks again.
She recognizes him. She begins to tremble with fear.
"I won't hurt you," he tells her reassuringly.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
She is a fine example of what Christianity is all about. Now, she would have been justified, IMO in taking his life in self-defense, but Christianity also involves extending mercy, which she chose to do, and that is something he SHOULD be eternally grateful for, no matter how his trial turns out. It was not something he deserved, and it was her choice to extend it. What a great example of God's mercy reflecting through her. She had to have some kind of incredible strength (my guess from her faith and being led by God's spirit) to have done what she did and something had to be being chipped away in his stone cold heart to have responded like he did.
It will be interesting to see if he has been really changed by all this.
You know, if he was the only person on the earth needing salvation, Jesus would have still gone to the cross for him. And the same applies to each of the victims. The same applies to you. Each person is loved by God, no matter what they've done, but she only had the opportunity to talk to *him* and not the other people. So why should that bother you? Would you rather she had obsessed about how the other people were feeling, and get him mad, and have him kill her too? What she did worked, perhaps he will repent, and save other people's souls in return before he goes to the chair. Life is short, and while we shouldn't minimize it, eternity is what really matters. Eternity is already decided for those that have died. There is still a chance for his eternity to be changed, and that is what she focused on.
Anyone who doubts the validity of faith, I suppose... :-\
What an amazing 'coincidence' that this happened just then?
"Speaking of knives, I read that Brian Nichols told his lawyer that the "shanks" that were found in his shoes when Nichols was going back to prison were his "arch supports"."
Someone is lying. His prosecutor said they were door knobs although how he could carry doorknobs in his shoes is a good question.
By the way, the idea that God loves any of us, as unworthy as we are, is what causes real humility and lifts us back up to do good things. It's called Salvation, reconciliation, forgiveness, etc. I have no problem with what she said. Ideally he would have gone to jail and learned there, without killing a bunch more people. But all those people have an equal chance of receiving salvation and having their eternity secured as well. As do their families. No one, on the other hand, has any guarantee they will take another breath.
Jesus himself knew he was going to die, he knew it wasn't going to be stopped, and yet Judas was still considered a traitor because he betrayed him. So just because these peoples' deaths were known to God beforehand does not absolve Nichols of his part in it, if that's what you're worried about.
The DUers are making fun of the fact that she is a religious woman and that Nichols said God brought her to him.
I sincerely feel sorry for the DUers sometimes.
She shows true Christianity without compromise.
She admits that he should be punished. I admire her. Who knows, if someone else had taken the time to really LISTEN to him, maybe all of this would not have happened.
If she's a single mom I'll bet she won't be that way for long.
"What an amazing 'coincidence' that this happened just then?"
Jerry Falwell was on MSNBC talking. Said how the tragic events of this young woman's life seemed to prepare her for this one moment. Her husband died in her arms from a stabbing. Single mom. In the middle of reading the book "A Purpose Driven Life".
If my wife had been killed by someone, and I was confronted by another killer, that might take me away from my kids, I know I wouldn't have the patience or grace that she had. Perhaps God would give it to me, just as God no doubt gave her extra strength.
Pam Smart is the teacher in New Hampshre who slept with her student and them influenced and conspired with the kid to kill her husband.
-----
agreed......
may I add.... her solid decency!
yes, sorrow for them is not enough. They are mostly FOOLS!
see post 49.....
and????
Are you still willingly wondering if Ashley Smith needs to be "verified"?
She's kind of cute, isn't she? In a haggard sort of way, of course.......LOL.
She is certainly a very smart, levelheaded woman.
Do you still feel the sick need to "verify" Ashley Smith's words?
Older is sometimes better.
Your need for "verification" of Ashley's story is bull, silly and sophomoric, imo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.