“I want to change my plea from ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty,'” I told my attorney five days after I became a Christian while in the Monterey County Jail in 1989. She advised against it. I was facing a life sentence plus 14 years for my crimes; I’d serve a minimum of 30 years at best.


This was a rubber-meets-the-road time for me: do I admit my guilt, tell the truth and go to prison for much of my life? Or do I keep lying and hope to beat the case? I chose the guilty plea, trusting the Lord would honor my obedience.


Each of us confronts a similar reality: do we admit our guilt from sin or do we put it out of our minds and try to overcome it on our own? The “one body” Paul speaks of is that of Jesus Christ, and it is He who took every punishment for our guilt. The “rubber met the road” when He gave His life for us
at Calvary.


In an amazing act of grace, the prosecutor dropped three of my charges, sparing me the 14 additional years. What an unexpected blessing! Isn’t that just what God’s grace is for us?