* NEVER TOO LATE [True Story]
On June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl, her clothes flaming
from gasoline bombs,fled the American-led assault on her village of Trang
Bang. With her eyes screwed shut and her mouth spread wide in a scream of
pain, she was captured on film in America's most remembered Vietnam wartime
photo.
In Officer John Plummer's nightmares, this picture flashed huge, in
black and white, to a sound track of children screaming. His order had
directed bombers to shower Kim Phuc's village with the chemical
explosives. For years, guilt over destroying and maiming the villagers
haunted the officer. Women and alcohol were his escape of choice.
Twenty years after the destruction of the village, Officer Plummer
asked Christ to take control of his life , unleashing God's ultimate power
to end guilt. Although free from guilt, he carried inside himself scars
somehow linked to the thick white scars on the neck, arm, and back of the
now-grown Vietnamese girl. Six years later, Plummer knew he needed to find
her. In an effort to meet her face to face, he tracked her down while she
was visiting America.
Unlike the June 1972 event, no photographer captured the moment when
Plummer explained to Kim Phuc who he was. But in the middle of a busy
sidewalk, the soldier, now 49 years old, and the child, now 33 years old,
embraced. "She just opened her arms to me," Plummer later said. "I fell
into her arms sobbing. All I could say is, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she replied as she patted Plummer's back, "I
forgive, I forgive."
-------
** It is our Christian responsibility to seek forgiveness for the wrong we
have done to God and to people we've hurt. With God, repenting of our sins
and asking pardon for them is never too late. "If we acknowledge our sins,
He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every
wrongdoing. If we say, 'We have not sinned,'...His Word is not in us" (1
John 1: 9-10). For Jesus' sake let us ask forgiveness from our family and
friends for the wrong we have done and pardon those who have asked
forgiveness from us. Nothing you've ever done is too bad to ask
forgiveness for. Saying sorry to those we have hurt and asking for
forgiveness is never too late.
On June 8, 1972, a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl, her clothes flaming
from gasoline bombs,fled the American-led assault on her village of Trang
Bang. With her eyes screwed shut and her mouth spread wide in a scream of
pain, she was captured on film in America's most remembered Vietnam wartime
photo.
In Officer John Plummer's nightmares, this picture flashed huge, in
black and white, to a sound track of children screaming. His order had
directed bombers to shower Kim Phuc's village with the chemical
explosives. For years, guilt over destroying and maiming the villagers
haunted the officer. Women and alcohol were his escape of choice.
Twenty years after the destruction of the village, Officer Plummer
asked Christ to take control of his life , unleashing God's ultimate power
to end guilt. Although free from guilt, he carried inside himself scars
somehow linked to the thick white scars on the neck, arm, and back of the
now-grown Vietnamese girl. Six years later, Plummer knew he needed to find
her. In an effort to meet her face to face, he tracked her down while she
was visiting America.
Unlike the June 1972 event, no photographer captured the moment when
Plummer explained to Kim Phuc who he was. But in the middle of a busy
sidewalk, the soldier, now 49 years old, and the child, now 33 years old,
embraced. "She just opened her arms to me," Plummer later said. "I fell
into her arms sobbing. All I could say is, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she replied as she patted Plummer's back, "I
forgive, I forgive."
-------
** It is our Christian responsibility to seek forgiveness for the wrong we
have done to God and to people we've hurt. With God, repenting of our sins
and asking pardon for them is never too late. "If we acknowledge our sins,
He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every
wrongdoing. If we say, 'We have not sinned,'...His Word is not in us" (1
John 1: 9-10). For Jesus' sake let us ask forgiveness from our family and
friends for the wrong we have done and pardon those who have asked
forgiveness from us. Nothing you've ever done is too bad to ask
forgiveness for. Saying sorry to those we have hurt and asking for
forgiveness is never too late.
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