peace in action

I have been meaning to blog this story for a while now. Essentially (for those of you who won't click on the link no matter how hard I push it), a Washington burglar received an open invite for wine and cheese when he intruded on a dinner party. Things took a surprising turn from there.

"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. "Then it miraculously just changed. His whole emotional tone turned — like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"

Over the past several months (two years, really) I have been on a journey towards pacifism, prompted by several forces. The real bug in my ear that wouldn't let me stop thinking about the issue was Derek Webb's line "how can I kill / the ones I'm supposed to love" -- and that is where I stand today, finally convinced. Not convinced that pacifism is effective, necessarily (yet), but convinced that it is where Jesus would have me stand. But it's nice to see stories like that where the peaceful route does indeed prove to be the effective route too.