A Death To Contemplate

Suzy is the name of my nephew's mother.  He is not my a real nephew, his mother is not kin of mine.  However, she was a 16 year old whose life I had a strong interest in.  You see, long before I met her she was badly damaged and it has been my prayers, hopes and efforts for the past 35 years to try and get her beyond that childhood.  But, what followed was one disaster after another.

I began to wonder about how does God work, when I see such disaster swirling around someone whom is so desperate to leave disaster in the past.  Any yet, it is as if she was courted by disaster.

I thought life would finally be good for her many years ago.  She met a guy in her church - associate pastor, whom fascinated her. I even flew out to met him - and cautioned her not to even think of marriage - something was mighty rotten in Denmark.  But, then again, about 300 in his church and a ton of kids all vouched for him.  I hoped I was wrong.

She did marry him.  I even sought her out before the wedding to ask her to reconsider - that was how strongly I felt this was a train wreck waiting to happen.  I was to find out at the wedding reception, her sister and father both counseled her not to as well.  How interesting - sister a Christian and father a non-Christian were both in agreement, and yet none had any better reason than I concerning the guy.

Inside of six months he had been fired for accessing pornography on his church computer.  He took up drinking as a hobby and beating his step-son, my nephew.  It went down hill from there.....  Yeah, that was not even the beginning of the downhill slide.  It made me question what was the definition of a Christian!  Could a Christian fall so far from Grace?  Even a atheists were be appalled at the depths he plunged to!

This morning he was found dead at home by his estranged wife, Suzy.  Apparently, he had lost his driver's license for previous DUIs and asked her to pick him up this morning to go to court.  He strongly suspected he would be doing jail this time.  All of this was news to all of us whom stayed in touch - in hopes of helping at some point.  Most likely he got a real snoot on last night and then failed to plug in his C-Pap machine.

Yeah.

In some regards, this removes a blight from the lives of his family.  His behavior had alienated EVERYONE whom had loved or cared for him.  But, at the same time, he was a son, a husband, a father, a step-father, a brother and ex-friend to many.  All need to be thought of in prayer, most of them are not Christian.

So many, such as my father, believed violently that they possess the freedom to live their lives however they wish, with no consequences.  However, every decision we make affects many surrounding us, some whom we may not even know.  Joe's death, like his life, will also impact that list of people above.  More than one of us had been praying for God's intervention in his life.....

If dear reader, you believe that you can control your alcoholism, your drug addiction,  your pornography problem, etc. all on your lonesome - know that you are wrong, dead wrong.  Joe had scaled the heights of his faith in God but was unable to leave that past he had come out of behind him.  It called to him and step by step he was drawn back into the horrors of what he had left when he became a Christian - and had fought his way out of.

Oh yeah, we all fail, or you are better than me if you do not!  But, there is always hope when we are still willing to fight.  Joe gave up and now has had to pay the ultimate price.  But, it never had to end this way and neither do you have to.

To quote the apostle Paul, Fight the Fight, Run the Race, Chastise yourself into submission  - but whatever it takes, be in the winners circle!  OVERCOME!  God guarantees to help us, as long as we are willing to participate - but He is not going to wave a magic wand over you.  It starts with you, it ends with you, it is all God in-between with your eyes on Him and ONLY Him.

Please do not take the road Joe traveled.....