Greater Love

Twenty years to the day after his son Timmy died, Tom Riley asks John Whittaker to walk with him to the little clearing where Timmy is buried. Tom admits he mostly did not want to be alone today, and Whit understands. But as they near the grave, they see they are not alone after all. A young man is already standing there. When the stranger greets Tom by name and introduces himself as P.D. Barnes, Tom goes pale and hurries away without a word. Whit apologizes for his friend, but P.D. says he knows exactly why Mr. Riley is upset. "You see," he tells Whit, "I killed Timmy."

Whit is stunned. He has always understood that Timmy drowned in a boating accident. P.D. says that is true - but he caused it. Sitting on a bench along the cemetery path, he tells Whit the whole story.

Twenty years ago, P.D. was a small, sharp-tongued orphan and a troublemaker from the get-go. One day Leonard, a big football player whose pocket knife P.D. had swiped, dragged him out to an apple grove, stuffed him into a burlap sack, hoisted him up a tree, and announced he was going to swing at him like a pinata. That was when Timmy Riley came roaring through the grove on his father's tractor and scared Leonard off. Timmy cut P.D. down, and instead of a thank-you he got an earful - but he also noticed the scrape on P.D.'s arm and the hungry look on his face, and he invited him back to the farmhouse for sandwiches. When Timmy learned that P.D. lived at the orphanage, he asked his dad, right on the spot, whether P.D. could stay with them for a while. Tom Riley said it was fine by him and went off to call the orphanage, then put both boys to work pressing apples into cider.

For the next few weeks P.D. lived at the Rileys', and for the first time in his life he was happy. Then his old streak kicked back in. The night before a camping trip, out at the secret cabin Timmy shared with no one but his family, Timmy unrolled a sleeping bag and out tumbled his father's watch, his mother's necklace, and his own missing compass. P.D. had taken them all - not for money, he admitted, but maybe because he could not figure out why anyone was being so nice to him. Every friend he had ever had ended up hurting him. Timmy answered honestly: he could not promise never to let P.D. down, because nobody is perfect. But he knew one friend who would never hurt him, a friend who lived in Timmy's own heart. His name was Jesus, and Timmy told P.D. how much Jesus loved him - enough to die on a cross for him. P.D. lay awake in his sleeping bag turning that over: a love so great that someone would actually die for someone else.

The next morning the boys rowed out on the lake to fish. Timmy pulled in fish after fish while P.D. caught nothing, and P.D. decided the problem was his side of the boat. He stood up to switch seats, the boat tipped, and both boys went into the water. P.D. could not swim, and something under the surface - vines, or a net - tangled around him. Timmy struggled a long time and finally got him free, pushing him up toward the air. But Timmy got caught himself, and he never came up. He saved P.D.'s life by giving his own.

P.D. was taken back to the orphanage before he could ever speak to Mr. Riley. Rumors spread that he had killed somebody, and he came to like the reputation and act on it, until an armed robbery landed him in juvenile detention. Yet even there, what Timmy had told him in the cabin never left him, and P.D. gave his life to the Lord in jail. Now he is a minister to inner-city kids, and he has come back at last to tell Mr. Riley what Timmy did for him - though after the scene at the grave, he doubts he will ever get the chance.

Whit will not let it end there. He drives P.D. straight to the Riley farm, where Tom sits looking at old pictures of his boy. Tom says he cannot face P.D. - and then admits the truth: he has never blamed P.D. at all. He blames himself, for staying home that day when he might have gone along and prevented it. P.D., overhearing, begs Mr. Riley to listen. Timmy did not die in vain, he says. Timmy saved his life and, more importantly, helped save his soul - because P.D. can wholeheartedly believe that Jesus died for people who do not deserve it, having watched Timmy sacrifice himself for him. Nothing can take away the pain, P.D. says, but he does not think Timmy wants either of them to feel guilty anymore. Timmy helped him; maybe now he can help Mr. Riley. As the two embrace at last, Whit tells P.D. that he wanted to help - and he just did.