Ashley Smith's Testimony

If you haven't seen, heard or read Ashley Smith's testimony of her experience with Brian Nichols, the man who shot his way out of a courthouse and took her prisoner in her own home, it's worth a read. Check out Peggy Mooney's column in the WSJ.

Excerpts:

We went to my room. And I asked him if I could read.

He said, "What do you want to read?"

Well, I have a book in my room." So I went and got it. I got my Bible. And I got a book called "The Purpose-Driven Life." I turned it to the chapter that I was on that day. It was Chapter 33. And I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, "Stop, will you read it again?

I said, "Yeah. I'll read it again." So I read it again to him.

It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was. What were you--what talents were you given? What gifts were you given to use?

And I asked him what he thought. And he said, "I think it was to talk to people and tell them about you."

And:

And I just talked with him a little more, just about--about--we pretty much talked about God . . . what his reason was, why he made it out of there.

I said, "Do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles--you are here for a reason. You're here in my apartment for some reason. You got out of that courthouse with police everywhere, and you don't think that's a miracle? You don't think you're supposed to be sitting here right in front of me listening to me tell you, you know, your reason here?"

I said, "You know, your miracle could be that you need to--you need to be caught for this. You need to go to prison and you need to share the word of God with them, with all the prisoners there."

And, from Peggy's comments:

On CNN on Monday afternoon Kyra Philips focused on the angle of the book, "The Purpose-Given Life," that Ms. Smith had shown Nichols. She had a local preacher on to tell us more about the book, and more about Christianity. It was informative, loving, a beautiful moment of television.

It's amazing how something so terrible was turned into an opportunity to witness.