GRAHAM STUART STAINES

Graham Stuart Staines, an Australian missionary, and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (6) were burnt to death by a gang of religious fanatics in the intervening night of 22 and 23 January 1999. Staines and his children were sleeping for the night in their van, in Manoharpur, Odisha, when it was set on fire; the mob ensured that they did not escape.

Graham Staines visited India for the first time in 1965, and started working as a medical missionary ever since, among the lepers and the tribals in the state of Odisha.

He was accused by the religious fanatics of forced conversions, and therefore, burnt him alive, along with his two small chdren. His wife Gladys, and Esther, their daughter, are the only ones left behind. They were saved because they were at a far away village.

The India Express, a popular newspaper, published the following comment of Gladys Staines in their edition of Saturday, 24 January 2009 – the tenth anniversary of the killing. “The 57-year-old widow said, she has no “bitterness or ill-feeling towards the killers of her husband”. “I have forgiven Dara. With forgiveness comes healing. If we don’t forgive, we become bitter. When we forgive, there is no bitterness and we live our lives,” she told The Indian Express over phone from her Baripada home. “Of course I miss my husband, his love. My daughter would very much love to have her father back. But one thing is for sure: we are going to meet in heaven. That thought gives me solace.“

What a testimony of Love, Service, Sacrifice and Forgiveness! Let us also serve the LORD the same way. Let us also forgive all who have hurt us as did the Grahams. It is never easy, though. We may be deeply hurt, and the pain and the suffering may still be present. However, the only way to a ‘wholesome healing’ is to truly and whole-heartedly forgive the person who hurt and harmed us. In doing so, we will be walking on the path, our LORD and our Saviour, Himself walked. Let us do it.