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Topic: Transformation, Salvation, Forgiveness
A young man cowered in the corner of a dirty, roach infested death row cell in a South Carolina prison. His body curled in a fetal position, he seemed oblivious to the filth and stench around him. His name was Rusty,
and he was sentenced to die for the murder of a Myrtle Beach woman in a
crime spree that left four people dead.
Police arrested twenty-three old Rusty Welborn from Point Pleasant, West
Virginia in 1979, following one of the most brutal slayings in South
Carolina history. Rusty was tried for murder and received the death
penalty for his crime. Bob McAlister, a deputy chief of staff to South
Carolina's governor, became acquainted with Rusty on death row. Bob had
become a Christian a year or so earlier and felt a strong call from God
to minister to the state's inmates, especially those spending their last
days on death row.
Bob's first look at Rusty revealed a pitiful sight. Rusty was lying on
the floor when he arrived, a pathetic picture of a man who believed he
mattered to no one. The only signs of life in the cell were the roaches,
which scurried over everything, including Rusty himself. He stared
blankly at Bob as he began to talk, but did not respond.
During visit after visit, Bob tried to reach Rusty, telling him of the
Love that Jesus had for him and of his opportunity, even on death row, to
start a new life in Christ. He talked and prayed continuously, and
finally Rusty began to respond to the stranger who kept invading his
cell. Little by little, he opened up, until one day he began to weep as
Bob was sharing with him. On that day, Rusty Welborn, a pitiful man with
murder and darkness behind him and his own death closing in ahead of him,
gave his heart to Jesus Christ.
When Bob returned to Rusty's cell a few days later, he found a new man.
The cell was clean and so was Rusty. He had renewed energy and a positive
outlook on life. McAllister continued to visit him regularly, studying
the Bible, and praying with him. The two men became close friends, over
the next five years, in fact McAlister said that Rusty grew into the son
he never had, and as for Rusty, he had taken to calling McAlister "Pap."
Bob learned that Rusty's childhood in West Virginia had been anything but
"almost heaven." His family was destitute, and Rusty was neglected and
abused as a youngster. School was an ordeal both for him and for his
teachers. Throughout his junior high years he wore the same two pair of
pants and two ragged shirts. Out of shame, frustration, and a lack of
adult guidance, Rusty quit school in his ninth grade year, a decision
that was to be just the beginning of his troubles. His teenage years were
full of turmoil as he was kicked out of his home many times and ran away
countless others. He spent the better part of his youth living under
bridges and in public rest rooms.
Bob taught Rusty the Bible, but Rusty was the teacher when it came to
Love and Forgiveness. This young man who had never know real Love was
amazed and thrilled about the Love of God. He never ceased to be
surprised that other people could actually love someone like him through
Jesus Christ. Rusty's childhood enthusiasm was a breath of fresh air to
Bob, who came to realize how much he had taken for granted, especially
with regard to the Love of his family and friends.
Rusty became extremely bothered by the devastating pain he had caused the
family and friends of his victim. Knowing that God had forgiven him, he
desperately wanted the forgiveness of those he had wronged. Then a most
significant thing happened: the brother of the woman Rusty had murdered
became a Christian. God had dealt with him for two years about his need
to forgive his sister's killer, finally, he wrote Rusty a letter that
offered not only forgiveness but also Love in Christ.
Not long before his scheduled execution, this brother and his wife came
to visit Rusty. Bob was present when the two men met and tearfully
embraced like long-lost brothers finally reunited. Rusty's senseless
crime ten years earlier had constructed an enormous barrier between
himself and the brother. The Love of Christ obliterated that barrier and
enabled both men to realize that, because of Him, they truly were
brothers reunited on that day. It was a lesson Bob would not forget.
Not only did Rusty teach Bob McAlister how to Love and Forgive; he also
taught him a powerful lesson about how to die. As the appointed day
approached, Rusty exhibited a calm and assurance like Bob had never seen.
On his final day, with only hours remaining before his 1:00 A.M.
execution, Rusty asked McAlister to read to him from the Bible. After an
hour or so of listening, Rusty sat up on the side of his cot and said,
"You know the only thing I ever wanted was a home, Pap. Now I'm going to get one."
Bob continued his reading, and after a few minutes Rusty grew still, very
still. Thinking he had fallen asleep, Bob placed a blanket over him and
closed the Bible. As he turned to leave he felt a strong compulsion to
lean and kiss Rusty on the forehead.
A short time later, Rusty Welborn was executed for murder. A woman
assisting Rusty in his last moments shared this postscript to his story:
As he was being prepared for his dearth, Rusty looked at her and said.
"What a shame that a man's gotta wait till his last night alive to be
kissed and tucked in for the very first time."
Does it seem almost unbelievable to you that a convicted killer, a man
who had brutally murdered an innocent woman with little or no thought for
consequences, would mourn the fact that as a child no one kissed him; no
one tucked him in? That is a Tragedy.
This true story was copied from a book "From Bad Beginnings to Happy
Endings." This was a book that Billy Graham sent out to all that asked
for a copy.