A man and his wife were married and looked forward to the day that they would finally be able to give birth to a child and start a family. After months of trying, finally they conceived a child and began the 9 months of excitement waiting for its arrival into their lives. They talked often about how they wanted to raise the child, what their boundaries and expectations would be, and most of all, how much they planned on loving their child. Finally, the day came and a beautiful baby girl was born. In their eyes, she was perfect in every way. As she grew she was obviously not perfect, but an amazing child nonetheless.

Their daughter continued to mature, made great grades, and was always talked about as someone that people could depend on when they needed someone who cared. She even took great care of her little brother. Their daughter was truly special.

One day the call came and their dreams came crashing down. They were numb. The police said that she had been raped, beaten, and left for dead in an alley. When the police found her, she was unable to be revived. They had lost their little girl.

Emotions flooded their minds, anger, frustration, confusion, pain.

Weeks later, the police finally found the man who had attacked and killed their daughter. He was an angry man and very capable of doing it again. The trial was painful as they had to relive all of the details of their daughter’s death.

Because of the nature of his crime, the man was sentenced to death. Finally, the case had been put to rest.

Not understanding why this had happened to his sister, the brother began visiting the man in prison. The man had no family, so the brother became the only person to visit him as the end of his life approached. At first, most of the questions came from the brother as he asked how this man could have done this to such an amazing girl. Little by little the brother began to understand there was a man behind the monster that had killed his sister.

On the anniversary of his sister’s death, the brother visited the man again in prison. That day was different than the ones before it. That day, with tears in his eyes, the brother told the man that he forgave him for his sister’s death and that he no longer held it against him.

The strangest thing happened. The man began to cry as well. He apologized for killing the sister and asked the brother to help him figure out how to change.

They continued meeting for almost a year. The guards saw great progress in the man and he even appealed for a change in his sentence, but the laws stated that in a case like this, death was the only option.

Finally, the day came for the man to die. The family sat in the viewing room no longer as accusers, but as supporters.

The guards brought in the man as he prepared for his death. They read the charges against the man and pronounced his sentence of death by the electric chair (a terribly painful death).

However, as they man walked to sit down in the chair something unexpected happened. The brother burst forth from the viewing room yelling, “please, no...I will take his place.” The crowd that had gathered was shocked including the guards. “You have done nothing wrong,” said the head guard. I realize that, but I want to die so that this man has a second chance at really living. The man pleaded with the brother not to do it, “I deserve this, you do not,” but the brother wouldn’t be convinced. He sat down in the chair and began strapping himself down.

The guards protested, “isn’t there something we can do?” “no,” the head guard responded, “the law states that in a case like this, someone must die.”

So they proceeded to hook up the brother in preparation for his death. As the guard prepared to flip the switch that would send electricity coursing through the innocent body the brother spoke, “I die so that you might truly live.” And with that he was killed.

The room was silent. No one knew how to respond.

The next picture, I won’t soon forget. The parents of the boy hugging the man, and through the tears I heard these words, “with his death, you are now ours, come now son, let’s go home.”

You would hardly recognize that man today. Although he is rich from the inheritance he received from his new family, he works in a homeless shelter serving food to those in need.

On occasion you can overhear him saying, “I once was dead, but now I truly live...”

The Bible says, "A greater love knows no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends."

God loved us so much that he laid down the life of his Son even when we didn't deserve it. This is true love. This is love that we can know will be with us forever.