By now you’ve probably heard of the amazing story of Brian Nichols and Ashley Smith. In 2005 Nichols was on trial in Atlanta for the rape and beating of his ex-girlfriend. While changing clothes into his courtroom suit he attacked and beat up the guard, stole her gun, and used it to kill four people as he escaped. He headed for Duluth, Ga. and, looking for a place to hole up, invaded Smith’s home, tying her up and threatening her. The 31-year-old widow somehow managed to establish a rapport with Nichols, however, reading to him from the Bible and Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life. A 911 call tipped off a SWAT team and Nichols was taken back into custody. Smith, of course, became an instant celebrity and hit the inspirational speaking circuit.
The story is not pure Disney, however. What was not known at first was that another one of Smith’s ploys to calm Nichols down was to give him some of her crystal meth. Methamphetamines (meth) are terribly addictive drugs when taken recreationally. They powerfully stimulate the central nervous system and ruin the health of regular users. So was Ashley Smith really a bad girl?
Life is messy, isn’t it? Heroes are sometimes villains and villains sometimes do heroic things. Almost every hero in the Bible that you can name was capable of shameful acts, and God saw to it that their moral failings were unblinkingly described. Noah, Aaron, Abraham, David, Solomon, Paul—drunkenness, idolatry, adultery, murder, polygamy, persecution.
The wonder is not that such perfect people had moral failings. The wonder is to see what God can get done through such flawed people. I find great comfort in the messiness of their lives, for I often feel like a contradiction myself. My own heart is a battlefield for the civil war inside. My sense of being worth something comes from Jesus, not from my own performance review. Ashley Smith’s story inspires me to be more patient with the people around me. Maybe everybody around me has a life as messy as Ashley’s in some way. I’d rather see what God can do through them than define them by their failures. Could I ask you to view me in the same way?
###
Straight talk. Real hope.
12/12/2009 - Posted by I
Ashley Smith (Robinson) was interviewed on the 'Today Show' this week. She said that she believes that God used her now highly publicized experience with Brian Nichols as a "wake up call" to her to get off of the meth and to recommit her life to Jesus Christ. Today she is drug free and lives with her daughter Paige and new husband Daniel, and she is actively involved in a ministry at her church called 'Celebrate Recovery' where she tells those who are yet looking to be free of their messy lifestyles that "If God did it for me .... He can and will do it for you too!" Isn't it wonderful that Ashly is not defined by her failures but by what the Lord has done for her, and is yet doing through her for His glory because of her redemption story?
