I just watched this video on CNN.com.

It’s the story of a 19-year-old Iranian kid who was living in Britain and facing deportation to Iran.

Deportation and, he and his family say, execution.

The boy is gay.

Homosexual acts are considered capital offenses in Iran. He claims his boyfriend has already been executed and he is begging for a reprieve. He tried to flee to Canada, but was held up in Germany and sent to a detention center in The Netherlands.

Often when I read stories in the news, things are revealed in me. Prejudice, apathy, spite, hypocrisy, pride… sin. And I’m glad when that happens. It needs to be revealed and turned over to Christ.

But I felt something different when I watched this story. Compassion, sympathy, sorrow, mercy, love. How difficult and lonely must life be for this kid at this moment? How ripe is his heart for grace in the midst of so much hate? I prayed for him. For his safety… for clemency… his life… and most of all, for the gospel light to penetrate in the darkest places.

As glad as I have been to have my errors revealed to me by the Spirit, my heart felt better to have experienced these feelings today. Keep changing my heart Lord; bring it into alignment with Yours. And thanks for the grace and mercy you showed (and show) me. There was a time when all I could offer was condemnation. But people don’t need condemnation; certainly not from me. People, like this boy, need Jesus.

I can’t help but think of a song by one of my favorite songwriters, the great David Wilcox.

It’s called Fearless Love. Here’s a few excerpts. It’s about a man going with his church to a park to protest at a gay rights rally. While the protest is going on, someone from the crowd heaves a rock and strikes an AIDS-infected man behind his ear, bringing him to the ground.

“The wrath of god,” somebody yelled. “Will punish all of those like him”
But if you travel back 2000 years, I swear you’d hear this all again
Back then they’d say, “These soldiers walk on sacred ground
This land’s our history and our home
They have no right to be around. They are the evil force of Rome”
So just how strong this change of heart must be; that one that Jesus once described:
Kindness to your enemy. Carry his pack an extra mile

Then the chorus, “Fearless love, fearless love. Fearless love makes you cross the border.”

The man watching from the crowd drops his protest sign and goes to help the wounded man. He grabs the injured man’s sign (“There’s Nothing Here to Fear”) and helps him to his feet. Then it closes like this.

Oh yes the high religious still will scorn, just like that did all that time back
They’ll say you helped the other side. They saw you haul that soldier’s pack
But now how could you carry that man’s sign. In your heart the choice was clear
You didn’t join the other side. The battle lines just disappeared

Fearless love, Fearless love. Fearless love makes you cross the border

We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.  Eph. 6:12 (CEV)