Week 4, Day 24 - Karla Faye Tucker

"He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners." Luke 4:18

 

REFLECT

On February 3, 1998, the chemicals for lethal injection were about to be released down the lines and into the arm of Karla Faye Tucker. She was strapped to a gurney in the execution room of Huntsville Penitentiary in Texas. Her very last words were: "I love all of you very much...I am going to be face to face with Jesus now. Warden Baggett, thank you so much. You have been so good to me. I love all of you very much. I will see you when you get there. I will wait for you".

Her plea for clemency was denied by the Governor of Texas. The liquid flowed, and her body was poisoned. She became the first woman executed in the state of Texas since the Civil War.

Karla Faye never denied the heinous crime that put her in prison. In a drug-crazed state, she had followed her boyfriend to the house of a drug dealer who had cheated them. There they killed the man and a woman sharing his bed - with a pickaxe.

Karla was on death row for fourteen years. During that time she came to believe in Jesus Christ. She experienced a personal transformation that was contagious to everyone who had contact with her. Fellow prisoners, workers at the prison, people all over the country were influenced by her vibrant faith. Karla went into prison one person and exited entirely different. She understood her guilt and understood her freedom in Christ.

She sent a poem to a fellow prisoner just before her execution:

"God wanted to plant a flower in a harsh and barren place.
So He found a warped seedling, rejected by the human race.
Men said the plant was hopeless, but He reached deep down inside,
replacing its horrible evil with His love so deep and wide."

We place people in prisons - an unfortunate necessity - to take away their freedom. But that will never stop someone from finding Jesus and knowing that He came to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. That's true for anyone incarcerated because they are guilty of a crime and also for the multitudes around the world who are imprisoned unjustly.

 

MAKE IT REAL

I would challenge you to pray for someone today that you have been tempted to give up on. A person in a situation that has not changed in many years. Ask God to give you hope for that person or situation that may look hopeless. Be prepared to become an encourager for that very individual.

Day 25