Losing It All To Gain Everything
At age 17 I lost my dad to an accident. He had not been in my life for a number of years and when he died I was in the throes of my addiction. My dad was an addict and when he died, as a hero fireman, one his brothers-in-arms found the bottle with Seconal and Valium. I feel confident at least one was in his system.
When the dust settled there was a sizable inheritance that was left for me and my two brothers. Someone at age 17-18 should never be given the keys to the kingdom as they rarely have the appropriate tools to do the right thing and handle the situation. Being fully engulfed in a drug and alcohol haze only made the situation far worse. Now I could really get lost, which I did. Everything came crashing down when the final $10,000 was spent on a massive ball of cocaine that I was going to sell and make a lot of money. Well, that didn’t actually work out.
I found myself broke, in a very deep depression and ran back home. My Mom opened her home to me, didn’t exactly welcome me back with open arms but, rather, with understanding and love. I had, literally, lost it all and my soul lay resting in a barren landscape.
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We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
Today I honor this memory by attempting to help as many addicts as possible. Dedicating two days a week to helping others get out of the fire and onto solid ground. It’s a daily battle and the enemy has weapons most do not realize exist. By helping them to see these unseen weapons of destruction the prayer and hope is they some make it out.
Luke 15 NKJV
12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
