I was on the train travelling to the Presbytery meeting last Wednesday.            I sat on the seats closest to the doors; I enjoy watching people getting on and off, eyeing the passing parade as it were. When I am not reading, that is.                                                                                                                                        I watched a small group of young people board. Not travelling together, it seemed, just happened to get on through the same doors. A teenager caught my attention; she reminded me of my daughter in her teens.

   She was making an obvious statement through her appearance: black clothing with a few tears, the sort of stuff generations ago would be undergarments, now worn over other stuff. Her hair styled in an anti-style fashion, black with green…

   I smiled to myself; is she trying to be Gothic, or Punk, I thought… maybe Heavy Metal… what would I know, I derided myself… as she sat down somewhere further down in the carriage.

   When we stopped at the Valley station, I noticed her get off amidst a bunch of others. Suddenly I sat up straight, looking intently at what had caught my eye, surely not I thought, looked carefully as she stepped out of the train.. however I was right, I had seen the word ‘GOD’. Tattooed on her shoulders, just below her neck line… part of a sentence… ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE … Wow I thought, what courage to have that testimony engraved on your body!

   Reflecting on it as we went our way to Central, it dawned on me, that very likely, she was conscious of her radical appearance, aware that people would look at her and form all sorts of opinions of her as she walked towards them in a shopping centre, on a footpath… then, as she walked past, if anyone gave quick glance backward over their shoulder, those words ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE would hit them in the eye, and perhaps conscience! Such a powerful walking message!    Only God can judge; Jesus, who mirrors God most clearly, tells us that though God can, God does not… at least not to condemn. Forgive them, for know not what they do, Jesus prays for each one of us.  God answers affirmatively. This is the good news.                                                       Louis