Here is a story that was aired on NPR’s Morning Edition about two years ago. If you want to read the whole segment you can find it here.
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.“He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,'” Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”
The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?'”
Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey you’re more than welcome.” Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.
I know this isn’t the usual MB fare, but I came across it reading an article by The Rev. William Dunham defending our firm belief that grace always comes before repentance. It was refreshing.
“Sometimes grace so astonishes us that all we can do is change course. All we can do is repent… turn around. There are times, I know, when the repentance seems to come first. But look closely, and more often we will find that it works the other way around. Grace, once demonstrated and experienced, can change everything about us. Everything.” (Dunham)
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