?Last week Monday, Carlton "Jason" Peters was gunned down at the corner of Church Street and Old St Joseph Road. It was a senseless and brutal slaughter of a kind-hearted, decent and innocent father, husband and grandfather.
I was requested to present the Message of Hope and I can testify that there were tears in several eyes. Jason loved his wife, children, grandchildren, sister, brothers and other relatives. He loved his neighbours. Jason did not know what it was to hate but he certainly knew what it was to forgive, to love unconditionally. His wife Karen Sampson-Peters must take comfort in the fact that her husband left a legacy of compassion. I have known her for a long time because I was one of her teachers. The Loveuntil Foundation conducts support group meetings on Monday evenings. During the sermon, I recalled that I had spoken to Jason the week before his killing, not knowing that it would be our last encounter. The Jason we all knew would never have the desire for revenge. Therefore, he would want no one to engage in a conspiracy to execute the assassin. God knows we have enough blood flowing in this country and that we are saturated with a river of hatred.
A familiar quotation decorated the programme:
"A golden heart stopped beating
Hard working hands put to rest
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best."
Karen has to be strong for their two children, Akim and Adanna, who is a member of the Laventille Adventist Youth Chorale. The family has no desire for more pain and destruction. In fact, Jason's relatives hope for a spiritual transformation of the murderers. At the funeral I asked the question, "Could Jason's killing be the catalyst that would motivate Laventille to unite and remove crime from the community?" While the Government is sleeping, the killers, the drug dealers, the pimps are awake and distressing families. Shabazz in his address told about a sign on a wall in Laventille, "Love does not live here anymore." Karen, Akim and Adanna understand and accept the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon
And where there's doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
Not so much to be understood, as to understand;
Not so much to be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we awake to eternal life. Amen.
We need a miracle; we need an awesome display of the power of God. We must not roll over and die. We have allowed the criminals to believe that they are winning the battle and without saying the prayer of Jabez, they are expanding their territory. These days you are hearing stories about dramatic car robberies. Owners are stopped at gunpoint and beaten while idiotic parasites take their vehicles.� These hooligans are not wearing masks anymore; they feel they have no need to hide. They are large and in charge. And by the way, just before they disappear they issue a warning: "Tell no one if you want to stay alive." After stealing the car that you worked for, that you still owe the bank for, they threaten you with unholy boldness.
Get the picture right! You are on the ground, wounded and bleeding, and this godless blood-thirsty imp sticks his gun in your neck and with demons on his eyes warns you about raping your daughter then killing you. How long must we tolerate this state of affairs?� Born on December 15, 1955. Died on January 25, 2010.
This is the short history of Jason Peters. But why? So that some hellish, ruthless person could satisfy his sadistic desires and receive applause from a dysfunctional group called a gang. Where do we go from here.�When Adanna graduates from the University of the Southern Caribbean, her dad will not be there. This is the tragedy that several families have to face. The loss of the flowers of our nation. The murder rate climbed to 500 in 2008 and 2009, and is continuing at an alarming rate in 2010. January was a bloodied month: more murders than days in the month. We need a miracle and God is the author of all miracles. Akim has to be the new father in the home. This is a responsibility that has been thrust upon his broad shoulders and he has the capacity to do a good job.
We do not need more blood on the streets, but we need to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ! If we fail to cry out to God, if we fail to make the necessary changes, the nation will not improve. We need the miracle that only He can deliver. He is reliable, trustworthy and He is a God of justice. The killers may escape for a time but in the end, good will triumph over evil.
