As He was hanging on the Cross, close to drawing His last breath, Jesus Christ uttered: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
These Holy Words, found in Luke 23:34, were also uttered by Mike Lash, a father from Atlanta, Georgia, as his attackers fled after robbing his family's house and shooting him on the leg on Aug. 16.
The robbers barged into the Lash family's house after pretending to be new neighbours who had a flat tire and in need of a jack.
"I had a feeling that it was an excuse and we were about to be robbed. Right about that moment I saw them pull the gun," Mike's wife, Whitney, recalled.
Mike even tried to prevent the four robbers from entering their home, but he was shot three times in his right leg. As he watched the men ransack his home, Mike began to pray for his life.
"Lord, this is, I guess, the moment I will meet you today ... if it is not your will, I am ready to stay," he recalled.
As this happened, Whitney was able to grab their six-month-old daughter, and ran into the yard to call 911. The couple's other child, two-year-old Everson, was sleeping upstairs.
When the robbers saw Whitney escaping, they fired shots towards her. The criminals eventually recaptured her, and continued stealing items from the house.
"They started walking in and I remember them coming in and out multiple times, just bringing stuff from our house," Whitney narrated.
The robbers left with their loot, with Mike bleeding heavily from the gunshots. The father, however, stayed strong for his family, and even asked for forgiveness from God for his attackers.
"Mike's words are still echoing in my mind as he was bleeding profusely and in excruciating pain on our floor... The amazing thing was that when the police and emergency medics were working on him, he was proclaiming Luke 23:34," his wife recalled.
"His immediate grace and forgiveness for others in the midst of life and death is a constant reminder for me as I feel anger trying to creep in," she added.
One of the suspected robbers, 18-year-old Brandon Jerome Smith, has already been arrested. The three others are still being pursued by the police.
