I must confess that I have sometimes drifted with my morning coffee into fantasies about what punishments would be just, and I reflected that it was good God didn't put me in charge of that. Without His wisdom and restraint I could easily descend into brutality those people haven't even thought of. But that is not who I choose to be, so I refrain from soothing notions of a jab a day until they die of their own devices.

My peace comes of what I know, that they will pay the last penny if they don't repent. If they do repent (truly, not just putting on another show with their acting skills), I would welcome them as brothers and men because I need forgiveness, too, and God does not negotiate on the issue. A single unimaginable price was paid for those people as well as for me, and I would have no right to complain if it pleases God's mercy to apply it to one of them.

That last bit might be outrageous to some, but I am convinced that no justice ever gets trampled underfoot by God's mercy. Justice is always done. In every single case someone pays the price, and in my case justice has been done, just not to me.