I don’t know if I would have passed the test like he did. I don’t know if I’ve got the faith or the love to do what this man did. In an instant, a man pulled out some handguns and started shooting. The innocent people who were caught in the line of fire on the Trestle Trail Bridge in Menasha, WI could never have seen this coming and never have prepared themselves for this random violence. But there it was. In the amount of time it took to empty two handguns of their bullets, the whole scene was over. Blood, carnage, confusion. And love. In middle of all that, a father lies dying, and his last words to his wife were stunning, “Forgive the shooter.” I don’t know if I would have passed the test of love.

How many of us come into contact with that kind of evil, that kind of blind hatred that reaches out to hurt innocent people standing around? I wouldn’t have been surprised if anyone had been angry at the shooter. But here is the true character of Christ, the true heart of Christ, spoken in words that still break my heart, “Forgive the shooter.”

Passing the test of love…could you do that? Could you look your murderer, the killer of your daughter, the maniac who hurt your spouse—could you look that monster in the face and say, “I love you” and then die? Maybe we need more opportunities like this. Not more violence. Not more blind hatred. But more opportunities to look the undesirables of our life in the face and proclaim our love to them. Maybe then we’d learn what means to pass the test of love.

John 4:7, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."