taking the words of Jesus seriously

 

Tonight Kelly Ann Gissendaner will be executed in GA. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied her request for clemency. They looked at who she was not who she has become. Her friends and family have circulated a petition begging the governor that her life be spared. As of this morning the petition has 40, 000 signatures and it will be sent to his office. Tragically in Georgia, the governor does not have power to grant clemency to people facing execution. Only an intervention by the GA Supreme Court, courageous resistance by state employees, or Christ himself can change where this road is leading.

 

 

 

Georgia Forecast

 

for #KellyonMyMind

 

with thanks to Ray Charles

 

Her execution was postponed

due to snow and freezing rain.

 

 

The governor

has the power

to shut down roads and declare

a state of emergency.

God forbid there be an accident.

 

 

She asked another man

to kill for her,

and he did–

an awful crime.

Georgia will pay another man

to kill her,

and he may.

They say justice is blind.

 

 

Jesus

died for Kelly,

and she sees

 

 

like Saul

who was blinded

on that road.

 

 

He had done

such an awful thing

to Stephen.

 

 

Kelly’s friends and family

beg for mercy

from a governor

with no power

to block this road

 

 

and pray

to a God

who reminds us

that death

is not the final word.

 

 

Tonight roads

may be slippery

but safe enough

for business as usual.

 

 

just fog, the forecast says.

Maybe rain.

 

 

Feels like it’s raining all over the world.

 

 




About The Author

mm
www.jubileepartners.org

Josina Guess clings stubbornly to the Church and to the belief that God is making something beautiful from our broken worlds. She lives with her husband and their four children at Jubilee Partners, a Christian service community in northeast Georgia that offers hospitality to recently arrived refugees. Josina serves on the Board of Directors of Koinonia Farm in Americus, GA.

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