A little over a week ago I received an email from a man I wrote a column about in November from my hometown in Roanoke, Virginia.

The man’s name was J.T. Clark, and he and his family were part of an amazing story of forgiveness.

To summarize, Clark and his family forgave a man who caused a crash that killed two of their loved ones on a motorcycle. They said they knew it was an accident and that the man had simply made a mistake.

The judge lowered the charge, and in the end, Clark even offered to pay the man’s court fines. The man who had caused the crash said he was overwhelmed with Clark and his family’s actions.

I bring this story up again because I am just amazed to see how far this story is spreading.

In his email to me, Clark said he was humbled to be a part of a family who decided to move on a path of forgiveness.

He said it started with his niece — the daughter and son-in-law of the couple killed — when she reached out to the man’s family three days after the crash. The man’s family and leaders from his church traveled to meet with his niece and her family a week after the funeral. Other ministries and people began to pray for both families, even holding vigils for all involved the night of the crash and the night of the funeral. People rallied together to take meals for those affected.

Clark said the impact of the crash is still being felt, and the story is still being written.

The night before Clark sent his email to me, he said he had a man come up to him in a restaurant who had lost his daughter in a crash. The other man told Clark how much his story impacted him.

I say these things because I am in awe of how much the written word spreads and how powerful our words and actions can be.

It made me think twice about how much of what we say  — even on places like Facebook — can change lives.

Needless to say, I was touched receiving an email from this man. It motivated me to want to become a better person.

 

Clarification

I have received questions from a few people inquiring about a column I wrote a couple weeks ago that addressed how to talk about difficult topics with children.

To avoid any further speculation, I just wanted to clarify that the difficult topic my family was dealing with a few weeks ago had nothing to do with my immediate or extended family. It dealt with something that happened to a friend of ours but ultimately affected us closely. Thought I would mention that so everyone knows things are going well in life otherwise.

 

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her columns appear each Tuesday.