I look out our playroom door and see off in the distance a gorgeous sprawling stucco and brick home on a 35 acre lot with a barn and horses set beside it. While we dyed eggs today and played outside and helped the big kids with their awanas grand prix cars, the mother who is usually in that house, doing those same things with her children is now in jail facing first degree murder charges. Their older son placed in another home by child protective services. The dad? I don't know. Is he there alone? At a friend's or relatives? He has lost a son. At the hands of his beloved wife. His other boy is not with him. How deep his grief must be.

I've scoured the internet reading every account I can find of this story. So close to home. We saw the emergency response vehicles come in our development that night, the flight for life helicopter arriving and departing, we prayed, we wondered, our hearts raced. Sirens, flashing lights, in our rural area are rare. Passing right by our house? A first in our 6 years here.
Lord, please let those boys be ok. What if it was one of those little ones flying off to the hospital? We didn't hear anything until a week later. When I turned on my tv to record Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, there was her face on the screen. My neighbor. The news. I dropped to the ground.

I can't get it off my mind. How could this be? This is not a 16 year old father, utterly unprepared, ill equipped for parenthood, or a mother addicted to drugs. This is right here, in my neighborhood, a 39 year old, stay at home, adoptive mother. A loving father. A Christian, married couple with 2 young boys. We just spoke, briefly, at the mailboxes the day before.....everything was normal, fine....

The comments following the news stories are laced with venom and hatred. She deserves to die, they say. How could anyone, ever do such a thing? She should have never had kids. If you can't protect your children, give them to someone who can. I can almost hear them snarling. The stones being hatefully cast. They see her mug shot. They know a child died at her hands. They think they have all the answers.

They don't.

I have no idea what happened that night while we were sitting here, right down the road, watching t.v. A young boy died. Yes. His mother was the reason. So it seems, yes.

She was a person you would never have thought could do such a thing. Never. These are good people. Responsible people. Good parents. Kind folks. Animal activists. Generous. She held candle parties and talked about homeschooling and church and her children. Just like all of us. She could have been anyone you know.

As we age, we see people rise, we see people fall. We observe other's humiliation and embarrassment as they are caught in various acts. We see repentance and deliverance and redemption. We see hard heartedness and refusal to accept, acknowledge, change.

We see sin. Terrible, hideous, awful, ugly, despicable, hurtful sin. We see it in the lives of others played out. We see the pain it causes. We see the splash effect it has.

We see it in the mirror too.

Maybe we don't get caught. Maybe we do.

Maybe the results are devastating, invokable, beyond repair. Maybe they are not and God will make glorious good come from the exposure of what was once hidden, done in secret.
Either way, we know it's there.

This woman, my dear neighbor, is no different. A few days ago, I could not say I know anyone who has ever killed anyone else, unless they were a soldier. Now I can. I know her. She was a mother, a peer. Someone like me. Perhaps, someone like you.

Let our hearts break because of the devil's stronghold in our lives, our homes, our families, our communities, our country, our world. Because of the damage he causes. He is so subtle, so sly, so sneaky, so underhanded, not to be underestimated. Let us mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep and pray for God's tender mercies to fall upon each and every one of us. We all need it. We know we do. Let us be on our knees in prayer for one another. For families suffering from the horrible, horrible effects of sin, like this one is.
With or without bars, this woman will likely be in prison for the rest of her life.

Please, Lord, let me refrain from casting stones. Not even one.
Let me love my neighbor as myself.