Reconciliation is illustrated well by the story of Ruth Youngsman, who, at a Prison Fellowship banquet in Seattle, said these words: “The man I ate dinner with tonight killed my brother.”
The words, spoken by the stylish west-coast woman, were how she introduced her incredible tale of reconciliation. She told how John H. had murdered her brother during a robbery, served 18 years at Walla Walla, then settled into life on a dairy farm, where, unbelievably and ironically, she met him in 1983, 20 years after his crime. Compelled by Christ’s command to forgive, Ruth Youngsman went to her enemy and pronounced forgiveness. Then she took him to her father’s deathbed, prompting reconciliation with the dad as well.
At that PF banquet, his voice cracked as he said, “Christians are the only people I know that you can kill their son, and they’ll make you a part of their family. I don’t know the Man Upstairs yet, but He sure is hounding me.”
Ah, the message of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation.
Source: Albert Quie, President of Prison Fellowship Ministries, as taken from the publication Jubilee (p. 5)