The room was still except for one powerful voice. Our guest
speaker, Tim Streett, held the room’s attention as he shared his fateful story
of coming to forgiveness.
Tim Streett is presently the assistant director of Shepherd
Community, but his ministry work was not the focus of his talk at tonight's Trusted Mentor Recognition Night. His
words carried a much more solemn tone as he shared his story of his father’s
dramatic murder, which he witnessed as a teen here in Indianapolis, and his
ensuing path to forgiveness.
Tim’s road to forgiveness wasn’t a straight path as he took
several detours with drugs and alcohol during his college years. He related
that he felt a hole in his chest that was “God-sized” and used substances to
try to fill that empty void--to no avail. His emptiness could not be medicated.
Tim eventually found the courage to forgive his father’s
murderers by reaching out to these men who were serving life prison sentences.
Tim talked about forgiveness as an “action” that serves as the first step to
inner healing. Tim shared that he wasn’t able to release his anger and
bitterness within until he took the critical step of forgiving his father’s
killers.
As I panned the room filled with mentors and mentees-- men
and women with various backgrounds including ex-offenders, formerly homeless
individuals, and young adults aging out of foster care-- I could almost see the
message seeping in.
One female mentee is still dealing with her own anger toward
an abusive parent. In adulthood, her anger had turned into bitterness and then
severe depression that was exasperated by job loss—this tragic mix led to a
bout of homelessness for her.
One young man was working on forgiving his mother for giving
him up for adoption and forgiving his father for never being present in his life.
I could only imagine some of our other mentees who’d served
their own prison sentences for various crimes and how they struggle with their
own paths to forgiveness, including forgiving themselves.
Yet,
through all of these trials and hurts, each mentee has developed a relationship
with a mentor. These relationships can set the foundation for healing past
wounds. The road to healing can be long;
however, anyone who’s been hurt has been hurt in relationship with other
people. Significantly, we’re also healed through healthy relationships, the
kind of relationships that are formed through Trusted Mentors.
I am grateful for our mentors who are walking
alongside their mentees along their paths to wholeness.
