Christine's Story

Christine was a very dear friend. She is also dead and this is a part of her story. 

I hadn’t heard from Chris in about three years. This was not unusual for her; she would often disappear for a few years and pop back up, and then disappear again. Plus, I knew from her sister she had been ill. You have to understand Chris was a drama queen “ the queen of drama queens”, if you will allow. So when she said she knew she was dying, I knew she had twenty years left to go. What I had not known was that she had been in a coma for several weeks with her estranged son sitting by her bedside waiting for her to die. Apparently, he left for a stretch and walk; she came to and called me. When he returned, she was dead.

Too freaky! The timing I was to learn from one of her brothers whom were trying to piece together the question as to how I had talked with someone in a coma, whom was being watched. This sequence is the best they could come up with. Were it not for knowing God and how He works, I would be getting goose flesh over this! But, instead, I say “Cool, thank you God for letting me talk one more time with her.” Apparently, she needed to share her story, and I have with all of my youth groups since her death….. And, now with you.

Chris grew up in a Christian home, extremely head strong and very soft on the eyes, as they say. Her sisters used to tease her about being the Christian with the smell of smoke clinging to her clothing and the back of her dress on fire, because she was a little on the wild side. Everyone would laugh at this, as it seemed true and there were no consequences for any of our actions. Yeah, none of us were any better or worse, maybe just wild in other ways. And as the oldest of the group that hung together, we learned much from her mistakes.

Chris went through a string of marriages and divorces. All those hot guys kept turning out to be real losers. Oh yeah, she loved some of them desperately, long after they were gone. But, they were not Christian and they were losers in many different ways. Heavens, one of them even turned out to be a contract killer; everyone thought he was a salesman, until his arrest. Boy could she pick them! I will admit I still like one of those husbands, boy did he get the shaft from her but that is another story!

Her sexual activities turned into an addiction. She went from doctor to doctor trying to find a pill or therapy which would cure her of what she now saw as a real problem in her life. She ended up sleeping with most of them; one giving her the gift of HPV.

Pretty depressing story, huh? But, it is not over yet.

“Kris, this is Chris, and I am dying. I got HPV from a shrink I was seeing. He was supposed to be helping me, instead he killed me. 

(HPV discussion was here, as she had to explain it to me for I had never heard of it before.)

“I want you to know what your friendship has meant to me and to thank you for being there.

“I can’t believe it took so long for me to get my act together and understand what life is all about. I was living my life for me, the way I wanted to, the devil be damned.

“And now I can’t understand how I could have been so selfish, I just did not listen to those whom cared the most.

“And now, I will be leaving my two children. There is nothing I can do about it. I guess they will have to live with their father now. What am I to do? How can I tell them what they need to know?

“But, at least I got it figured out. I have made my peace with God, I know He is now my true Savior and I am ready to meet with him. Oh, if only I had done this twenty years ago! I didn’t understand!”

We talked for close to thirty minutes until she weakened and had to go. I expected she was going to be making similar calls to her other friends and family members. Little was I to know this was to be her last phone call. I heard from her brother the next day she had died after a six week coma. I then understood how miraculous this call had been. 

I loved Chris for the “soul mate” she was to me. We never failed to make the other laugh or cry, probably the definition for the best of friends. Maybe why she suddenly called me instead of a sister or her mother. She knew I would understand and tell her right from wrong and be a comfort, even if I truly could not have understood.

If ever there were a reason for young women in the church to get their acts together, Chris’ story should be it. She grew up in the church, she knew all the right words, she even thought she was a Christian. There is nothing to make Chris, you or I any different from one another.

It is only by the grace of God each of us doesn’t go through what Chris had to, in order to at long last find peace in HIM. 

Certainly, God gave me an easier route, when I deserved far worse.  And I do pray you make your peace with HIM long before you get hammered by God, as Chris was.