I just read this story the other day.
Man confesses to 1953 hit-and-run
February 25, 2007
A man received a suspended jail sentence after confessing to running down an elderly churchgoer with a car, then leaving the scene more than half a century ago.
Verlyn Brady, 77, pleaded guilty yesterday to reckless driving in the 1953 hit-and-run death of George Lewis Dalton in this small, southwest Virginia town.
Brady said he wondered for years whether it was a deer or a person he struck one October night. He waited until last summer, just before he underwent open heart surgery, to contact authorities.
Dalton, 74, and his wife were crossing a road in front of their home about 3 kilometres south of Hillsville on their way to church when he was killed. The driver disappeared into the darkness.
This story reminds me of one of my favorite movies by Christian Bale, The Machinist
(SPOILER ALERT: The text in red reveals the major twist at the end!)
The Machinist is about a guy,Trevor Reznik, who hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. I don't just mean that he had a little insomnia, but rather for a whole year, Trevor hasn't gotten one minute of sleep! The movie depicts Trevor's life at a place where reality and fantasy become hard to separate. Trevor is a man whose soul and life are tormented. The question that keeps coming up throughout the movie is - why can't Trevor sleep? Trevor's lack of sleep has ravaged his body and his mind. (The actor Bale actually starved himself to look the way he did - absolutely incredible!) It is not until the end of the movie that you discover that Trevor can't get any peace through sleep, because of the bondage of his own guilt. Trevor killed a young boy a year ago in a hit and run, and he has been living with that guilt during the entire year. Trevor eventually finds release from his guilt and finds sleep when he recovers several repressed memories of the crime and eventually confesses to the authorities.
The Machinist is a powerful picture of the bondage of guilt through unconfessed sin. When I read the above article about Verlyn Brady, I thought, how could he live with this guilt for so long? Part of his ability to live with it was to rationalize it away. He said that he thought he may have hit a deer. But that was a lie. He knew he didn't hit a deer, because why then would he have been so hesitant to come forward and wait until he was 77 to confess to the authorities. There is no doubt that Brady chose to live with that guilt for many years.
During this season of Lent, we are called to reflect on what Christ has done for us. We are to allow this season to become a time of reflection. We should allow God to search our heart and life and to allow the Spirit to bring brokenness and repentance.
We ask the Lord to search our heart and life:
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24
As God reveals sin, we are to confess, acknowledge our sin to God. But why do we confess? God already knows our sin, we aren't telling him anything He doesn't already know. Confession isn't about enlightening God with certain information. God doesn't need to know, but rather we need to tell.
When we conceal our sin, it wounds and disrupts our fellowship with our heavenly Father.
David describes how his concealed sin virtually destroyed Him. (just like the character from the Machinist)
1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32:1-5
Confession is exposure. When we confess, we allow the light of Christ to shine brightly on and into our heart. Confession also means applying the truth and the reality of the Gospel to our sin. We acknowledge not only our sin, but also the cleansing work of Christ's shed blood on the cross. By Christ's atoning work on the cross, we are FORGIVEN! Confession draws us to the cross.
During this season of Lent, allow God to search your heart, and confess your sin to God as He reveals it, not because He "needs to know", but we "NEED" to tell. And let the beauty and majesty of the Gospel bring healing and restore hope.
Technorati Tags: Confession, Tragedy, Repentance
Man confesses to 1953 hit-and-run
February 25, 2007
A man received a suspended jail sentence after confessing to running down an elderly churchgoer with a car, then leaving the scene more than half a century ago.
Verlyn Brady, 77, pleaded guilty yesterday to reckless driving in the 1953 hit-and-run death of George Lewis Dalton in this small, southwest Virginia town.
Brady said he wondered for years whether it was a deer or a person he struck one October night. He waited until last summer, just before he underwent open heart surgery, to contact authorities.
Dalton, 74, and his wife were crossing a road in front of their home about 3 kilometres south of Hillsville on their way to church when he was killed. The driver disappeared into the darkness.
This story reminds me of one of my favorite movies by Christian Bale, The Machinist
(SPOILER ALERT: The text in red reveals the major twist at the end!)The Machinist is about a guy,Trevor Reznik, who hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. I don't just mean that he had a little insomnia, but rather for a whole year, Trevor hasn't gotten one minute of sleep! The movie depicts Trevor's life at a place where reality and fantasy become hard to separate. Trevor is a man whose soul and life are tormented. The question that keeps coming up throughout the movie is - why can't Trevor sleep? Trevor's lack of sleep has ravaged his body and his mind. (The actor Bale actually starved himself to look the way he did - absolutely incredible!) It is not until the end of the movie that you discover that Trevor can't get any peace through sleep, because of the bondage of his own guilt. Trevor killed a young boy a year ago in a hit and run, and he has been living with that guilt during the entire year. Trevor eventually finds release from his guilt and finds sleep when he recovers several repressed memories of the crime and eventually confesses to the authorities.
The Machinist is a powerful picture of the bondage of guilt through unconfessed sin. When I read the above article about Verlyn Brady, I thought, how could he live with this guilt for so long? Part of his ability to live with it was to rationalize it away. He said that he thought he may have hit a deer. But that was a lie. He knew he didn't hit a deer, because why then would he have been so hesitant to come forward and wait until he was 77 to confess to the authorities. There is no doubt that Brady chose to live with that guilt for many years.
During this season of Lent, we are called to reflect on what Christ has done for us. We are to allow this season to become a time of reflection. We should allow God to search our heart and life and to allow the Spirit to bring brokenness and repentance.
We ask the Lord to search our heart and life:
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24
As God reveals sin, we are to confess, acknowledge our sin to God. But why do we confess? God already knows our sin, we aren't telling him anything He doesn't already know. Confession isn't about enlightening God with certain information. God doesn't need to know, but rather we need to tell.
When we conceal our sin, it wounds and disrupts our fellowship with our heavenly Father.
David describes how his concealed sin virtually destroyed Him. (just like the character from the Machinist)
1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32:1-5
Confession is exposure. When we confess, we allow the light of Christ to shine brightly on and into our heart. Confession also means applying the truth and the reality of the Gospel to our sin. We acknowledge not only our sin, but also the cleansing work of Christ's shed blood on the cross. By Christ's atoning work on the cross, we are FORGIVEN! Confession draws us to the cross.During this season of Lent, allow God to search your heart, and confess your sin to God as He reveals it, not because He "needs to know", but we "NEED" to tell. And let the beauty and majesty of the Gospel bring healing and restore hope.
Technorati Tags: Confession, Tragedy, Repentance
2 comments:
Bill,
Touching story. I think I'll see the movie too.
I guess it's amazing more people aren't insomniacs. Ain't it amazing what we can justify, rationalize, and excuse.
Many do manage to live with their guilt, but at what price?
Here's a far-out-there idea. I wonder, could we work with accurate data interpreted by reputable sources, if we'd find a correlation between unresolved guilt and some forms of mental illness.
I saved this entry. It's a natural sermon begging to be preached.
Ron
Ron,
I think that the movie is compelling and has a powerful redemptive message. But I feel obligated to tell you that it is rated R because of language, strong thematic elements, and some very brief sexual content. I always feel obligated to give people all the qualifiers about a movie before I recommend it because everybody's sensibilities are different when it comes to movies. I don't think the elements in question are gratuitous and they contribute to the plot of the movie.
Anyway, I felt like I need to make that statement.
Here is some more information about the movie:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machinist/
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