Pastor to Stand Trial for Providing Shelter to the Homeless
A Tale of Red Tape, Warm Beds and Heartless Bureaucracy
The first time I truly understood what it meant to break the rules for the sake of love, I was driving my wife to the hospital in the middle of the night. She was in labor with our third child, and things were moving far faster than we expected. The thirty-minute drive to the hospital suddenly felt like an eternity.
Speed limits? They didn’t matter. Red lights? I barely slowed down. The law said I had to stop, but the reality in my passenger seat — my wife gripping my hand, gasping through contractions — said I had to keep going.
If a cop had pulled me over, I wouldn’t have stopped. Not for a second. I’d have taken the ticket, the lecture, even the handcuffs, as long as I got her to that hospital. Because sometimes, love demands urgency. It demands that we act, even if the rules tell us to wait.
It’s a choice I’ll never forget, and it’s a choice I’ve seen echoed in others who refuse to let rules stand in the way of compassion. That’s why, when I first heard about a pastor facing criminal charges for simply trying to save lives, I wasn’t surprised — but I was outraged.
