The Verdict

My good friend, Frank Reed, hosts the morning show on KLTY in Dallas. The breaking news Saturday, July 13th was the George Zimmerman verdict. Frank wanted to say something and knew he needed to say something about the case that next Monday morning. As he prayed about what to say, his mind turned to his relationship with the Lord and a verdict that was given that changed his life forever.
I read his words yesterday. I immediately asked Frank if I could share his thoughts with you. I know you will be blessed and encouraged. Please post your comments once you read Frank’s article.

The Verdict. By Frank Reed July 15, 2013 (as heard on 94.9 KLTY)
The prosecution continued to make their case. It was quite a team he assembled. The best of the best. One by one the accusations came. It seemed to go on for hours. I tried to keep a stiff upper lip, you know, play the poker face thing. But my demeanor sooner, rather than later, had the look of total defeat. Every accusation was true, what could I say, what could I do?
You know the story of the kid with his hand in the cookie jar? Multiply that feeling a thousand times, and it still wasn’t even close to the way I felt. One by one the offenses were laid out. Pride, arrogance, selfishness, greed, lust, envy. The list went on. The weight on my heart felt like the size of an ocean liner. I was utterly, totally, helpless. There was nothing I could say. I was guilty and I knew it.
The only thing left, was the verdict, and my sentence. I had done my homework. I knew what the sentence was. I knew my prospects of surviving this nightmare were absolutely zero. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the lead prosecutor, the accuser, began his closing argument. This guy made his associates look like school children. Every wrong thought, motive, and action, was told. Then, it ended. “Your honor, the prosecution rests”.
At that moment, there was only one thing I could think of; The Verdict. I sat there, totally ashamed, humiliated, defeated. And then, it happened. A touch on my shoulder. It was him. He was there next to me the whole time. “Frank” he told me. “Hold your head up son, I’ve got this”.
With those words, he stood up and approached the bench. His voice was loud, strong, and crystal clear. “Father”, he said. “On a train heading into Manhattan, in June 1982, Frank made a conscious decision of his heart to follow me. He has not done things perfectly, far from it. At many times I thought, son, what in the world are you doing? But here’s the bottom line; when I died on the cross, I took away his sin. Every single one, past, present, and future. It is written, there is now no condemnation for him. He is undeniably, without a shadow of a doubt, one of mine. I paid his penalty”.
And then I heard it. The words that would set me free. The words that would give me purpose and a reason for living while on earth, and the words that would usher me one day into heaven. It was The Verdict. And it was not guilty. And you can be declared not guilty, too.