A Mother's forgiveness.

The parents of a slain Pennsylvania State Police trooper said Sunday they have forgiven his alleged killer and are relying on their faith to get them through the loss.

"It doesn't do you any good to hate somebody for whatever they have done to you, because all it does is eat you up.  said Bryon Dickson.

 

"Justice lays behind us at the grave, where my son's body is buried," she said. "And Eric Frein is chained to that place of justice. He has to be held accountable for what he has done."

Addressing the congregation, Darla Dickson recalled the moment that every parent of a police officer or soldier dreads: the knock on the door, when a trooper and chaplain brought word that her son had been killed in the line of duty.

 

"What I experienced was just a disbelief beyond degree,"  "It was very surreal. I just could not even wrap my mind around it."    It hasn't been easy to forgive Frein, who authorities said did not know her son.

 

"There were days when we had to get up, and it was difficult to set one foot in front of the other and face the world," she said.

But the Dicksons said their Christian faith has brought them great comfort and teaches them that just as God has forgiven them, they are to forgive others.

"Not keeping a record of wrongdoing gives you hope for tomorrow, a sense of love that displaces all evil in the world," Darla Dickson said.

 

Their appearance came as the church celebrated "Blue Sunday," paying tribute to law enforcement. The pastor, David Crosby Jr., brought several state police troopers and local police chiefs on stage to cheers and applause from the congregation of hundreds.

Crosby prayed for the safety and protection of law enforcement, as well as for "healing and restoration" in Baltimore. 

 

Darla Dickson told the AP she doesn't think about Frein. Instead, she focuses on her son, a 38-year-old Marine veteran who left behind a wife and two young sons.

"I miss my son. I grieve for him," she said. "But it's not the kind of grief that the rest of the world carries. I have that hope that I will see him again."

 

Just a thought.