So much to comment on

The past few days I've thought of so many things to comment on, and I can't remember any of them.

Oh, the 1,000^th criminal was executed since the death penalty was re-instated in 1977. His lawyer's reason to not execute him? He's a changed man now, and would never do again anything like what he did.

I have no doubt he's a changed man, that he "found" Jesus (though I'm sure Jesus did most of the searching), and that he is in heaven today praising God with all the other saints who have gone on into glory. And perhaps, his impending execution caused him to think seriously about these things and where he would stand with God when Face to top-of-head-from-bowing-in-shame (the posture I imagine all of us will assume when faced with the awesome majesty, purity, and Truth of God/Jesus/Spirit). Better late than never.

However, our actions have consequences, and just because we learn our lesson and make a change for the better doesn't mean we can get out of suffering the consequences of our actions. My heart breaks for the man and his family, but my heart also breaks for the family of his victim(s). Through no fault of the victim, their loved one is ripped from their lives in a horrific manner by someone who made the

choice

to perform the actions. That sounds so clinical, I know, but I don't necssarily want to be too graphic.

I have great sorrow that we have the death penalty, but I have even greater sorrow that we as a society have individuals that commit crimes that are deemed punishable by the death penalty, that the nature of their crime is so horrendous and so violent that their execution is the only way to get the point across that this behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.