Friday, June 26, 2009
When Your Life Falls Apart
We listen intently to a true story many of us had already heard on several other occasions. Every time he tells it I am moved and left wondering what it would have been like to know this man in his other life. He tells of a time when he was a “party animal”, so bound by alcohol and drugs that his life was dysfunctional. Finally everything seemed to fall apart. In a single day he was taken to Harrington hospital twice by the same paramedics. First he was retrieved from a gutter downtown and then sent home to sober up. A few hours later, still under the influence, he was run over by a car. The entire audience relives his frustration and pain as he tells us about some of the worst days of his life.
Today this same man is one of the most functional and likeable men you’ll ever meet. Now he is a faithful husband, a great employee, licensed minister and an elder of our church. It is hard to imagine him being the person he talks about. It begs the question, “How does a life that is falling apart turn out so great?”
That question is answered very shortly as he continues his tale. On the day his life fell apart he prayed a simple, desperate prayer asking God (if He really existed) to show him a better way. Within days of that request he was assigned to be trained at work by a man who turned out to be a Spirit-filled Christian. During the next few weeks he got a crash course in what it means to believe in and commit your life to Christ. Shortly thereafter he attended a service where he was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in another language just as the disciples were on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) Then came several years in which God used his church to help him rebuild his life on a better foundation. God let him hit bottom so he would look up.
His story of a new, better life is not common enough, but neither is it rare. Our assembly is filled with people who came to life-changing crises in their lives -- crises that forced them to consider their weakness and their need for a Savior. Situations that seemed so hopeless and sad became turning points – opportunities to start over. Perhaps that explains why those same people are so anxious to help others find their way to a better life. They are not trying to force their morals and values on others, they are just eager to help them discover the principles that helped remodel their own lives. Many of them used to be very skeptical of Christianity, but then they tried it and found that it works!
Unfortunately, many of us are like the reckless teenager who has to barely survive a terrible car accident before becoming a responsible driver. A word to the wise: The sooner you seek God and His better way of living, the less likely it is that you will have to hit bottom. But if you do, there’s still hope -- I have a bunch of church friends who are living proof of that.
Today this same man is one of the most functional and likeable men you’ll ever meet. Now he is a faithful husband, a great employee, licensed minister and an elder of our church. It is hard to imagine him being the person he talks about. It begs the question, “How does a life that is falling apart turn out so great?”
That question is answered very shortly as he continues his tale. On the day his life fell apart he prayed a simple, desperate prayer asking God (if He really existed) to show him a better way. Within days of that request he was assigned to be trained at work by a man who turned out to be a Spirit-filled Christian. During the next few weeks he got a crash course in what it means to believe in and commit your life to Christ. Shortly thereafter he attended a service where he was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in another language just as the disciples were on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2) Then came several years in which God used his church to help him rebuild his life on a better foundation. God let him hit bottom so he would look up.
His story of a new, better life is not common enough, but neither is it rare. Our assembly is filled with people who came to life-changing crises in their lives -- crises that forced them to consider their weakness and their need for a Savior. Situations that seemed so hopeless and sad became turning points – opportunities to start over. Perhaps that explains why those same people are so anxious to help others find their way to a better life. They are not trying to force their morals and values on others, they are just eager to help them discover the principles that helped remodel their own lives. Many of them used to be very skeptical of Christianity, but then they tried it and found that it works!
Unfortunately, many of us are like the reckless teenager who has to barely survive a terrible car accident before becoming a responsible driver. A word to the wise: The sooner you seek God and His better way of living, the less likely it is that you will have to hit bottom. But if you do, there’s still hope -- I have a bunch of church friends who are living proof of that.
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