Those who least deserve your prayers need them the most.

This past week I have been in deep prayer for the Yeardley Love family. For those of you who don’t know who she is, she was a beautiful, passionate, athletic and intelligent UVA lacrosse player who was murdered two years ago by her ex-boyfriend, also a UVA lacrosse player. From another lacrosse player, and someone who played against her just weeks before this happened, I can truly say how much I have grieved about what happened. I have felt every emotion there is. Confused, angry, sad, blessed, you name it.

This past Wednesday, two years later, George Huguely was convicted of second degree murder. God has always put people like this on my heart. I can’t tell you why. I have always wondered if there was something that happened in my life that has made me have such a sympathetic heart to the “villians” in the world. The people that got caught in a drunken rage one night and killed their ex-girlfriend because of a fight. The teenager that is drinking at a party on a Friday night and decides to drive home, crashing in to another car along the way. The husband that cheats on his wife.

I want to be clear- I am in no way, shape, or form saying that any of these are okay and should be excused. Because they should not be excused and they should be held accountable for their actions and their poor decisions, whether it was a mistake or not. Whether they were a good kid and just had a laps of judgment for a second, or it’s someone who has continually made bad decisions. But I am saying that these people need prayers too.

In the UVA murder trial, I’m sure there are a lot of prayers being said for Yeardley’s soul and for her family’s strength. And I in fact continue to pray those prayers as well. People always want to pray for the victims. As they should. But I also want to make sure that we aren’t forgetting to pray for the other side’s soul as well. It is our duty as Christians to pray for them. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good.” The Lord made these people in His image as well, and he loves them just as much as the saved. Please pray that God’s grace will penetrate George’s heart and that he will come to Christ.

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