“When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.”
Ronald Franz, an 81-year old retired Christian man who Chris met and became friends with in 1992, spoke those words. These were possibly words Chris needed to hear, as Chris struggled with forgiveness, harboring anger towards his parents for what he considered their attempts to buy his respect with material goods.
Chris wrote to Ron of joy, but believed it could...
“When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.”
Ronald Franz, an 81-year old retired Christian man who Chris met and became friends with in 1992, spoke those words. These were possibly words Chris needed to hear, as Chris struggled with forgiveness, harboring anger towards his parents for what he considered their attempts to buy his respect with material goods.
Chris wrote to Ron of joy, but believed it could be attained apart from people. This was perhaps his fatal error. If he had been more able to forgive, he might have been more able to let people into his life and less prone to go off alone.
Another quote, however, suggests that he was able to forgive at the end of his life: "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. God bless all," Chris wrote as he lay dying in the Alaskan wilderness. In this statement, ending on the word "all," Chris communicated that he had found peace. The blessings he bestowed on "all" would necessarily have included his parents, indicating that as he died he had forgiven them.
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