WHEN IT TAKES AWHILE TO FIND THE GOD-STRENGTH
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Blue police lights flashed outside our home. It was late at night. Neighbors must have wondered what was going on but I had no other choice. I had to phone the Windham police.
"Someone’s pounding on our door! It’s almost midnight!" my frantic wife shook me, waking me from a deep sleep.
The night light in a side room could reveal me groping for the phone; but I had to find it, dial the police and hope that it worked before some intruder barged into our living room.
It seemed an age and a half for the cruisers to get there. But in fact it was a very short time frame. Three police vehicles lined up outside our house. I peered through the window shades to watch officers slide a fellow into one of the cruisers, then drive off.
Presently, an officer came into our home to complete forms. "Do you know who that man was?"
It did not take long for me to realize that it was Drake who had banged on our door. He was drunk. Some time before I had counseled him when he, an inmate, served time in Cumberland County Jail. Now, on parole, he sought me out as a pastor.
The next morning I found a package of beer he had deposited on our porch when spying the cruisers. Conditions for him on parole included no drinking.
"The whole thing is very, very sad," I related to a friend. "Very sad. When in jail, Drake was his intelligent, winsome self. He was anxious to talk about AA and God and prayer and church. But. . ."
Yes, as his substance abuse counselor, I had come to realize Drake’s commendable qualities. He had obvious personality strengths, including his being particularly outgoing and confident. He was one sharp fellow.
"You don’t seem to belong in here in jail," I told him after one session. "You have too much going for you to keep racking up OUIs."
Of course, Drake agreed. When sober, he was all pluses and more. But unfortunately, when released from jail his old destructive habits crept back.
And in their return he wound up inebriated on my doorstep.
A couple of weeks later I saw him. "Drake, I didn’t know it was you late that night. I imagine you were looking for a ride home. Were you?"
"Yes," he replied.
"I’m praying for you for you know that you need more than a ride home. You need God’s strength to enable you to follow through with the resolves you made when in jail."
"I know that," he answered.
Yet to date, Drake still has not found that strength to be alcohol-free.
There are others like him in our attractive Lakes Region. Mixed in with the season’s color and our lively pastimes are humans battling the dark side.
Many believe in God, know something about prayer and have heard the gospel truths. But they lack the power to get hold of all that for practical good.
I often think of how such souls need steadfast friends to stand in the gap. They need intercessors—believers who have faith in prayer so as to bring the name of Drake before the throne of God—often.
Please remember your neighbors who grope through one night or another. Lift them from your heart to the heart of God. It is part of being faithful.
Blue police lights flashed outside our home. It was late at night. Neighbors must have wondered what was going on but I had no other choice. I had to phone the Windham police.
"Someone’s pounding on our door! It’s almost midnight!" my frantic wife shook me, waking me from a deep sleep.
The night light in a side room could reveal me groping for the phone; but I had to find it, dial the police and hope that it worked before some intruder barged into our living room.
It seemed an age and a half for the cruisers to get there. But in fact it was a very short time frame. Three police vehicles lined up outside our house. I peered through the window shades to watch officers slide a fellow into one of the cruisers, then drive off.
Presently, an officer came into our home to complete forms. "Do you know who that man was?"
It did not take long for me to realize that it was Drake who had banged on our door. He was drunk. Some time before I had counseled him when he, an inmate, served time in Cumberland County Jail. Now, on parole, he sought me out as a pastor.
The next morning I found a package of beer he had deposited on our porch when spying the cruisers. Conditions for him on parole included no drinking.
"The whole thing is very, very sad," I related to a friend. "Very sad. When in jail, Drake was his intelligent, winsome self. He was anxious to talk about AA and God and prayer and church. But. . ."
Yes, as his substance abuse counselor, I had come to realize Drake’s commendable qualities. He had obvious personality strengths, including his being particularly outgoing and confident. He was one sharp fellow.
"You don’t seem to belong in here in jail," I told him after one session. "You have too much going for you to keep racking up OUIs."
Of course, Drake agreed. When sober, he was all pluses and more. But unfortunately, when released from jail his old destructive habits crept back.
And in their return he wound up inebriated on my doorstep.
A couple of weeks later I saw him. "Drake, I didn’t know it was you late that night. I imagine you were looking for a ride home. Were you?"
"Yes," he replied.
"I’m praying for you for you know that you need more than a ride home. You need God’s strength to enable you to follow through with the resolves you made when in jail."
"I know that," he answered.
Yet to date, Drake still has not found that strength to be alcohol-free.
There are others like him in our attractive Lakes Region. Mixed in with the season’s color and our lively pastimes are humans battling the dark side.
Many believe in God, know something about prayer and have heard the gospel truths. But they lack the power to get hold of all that for practical good.
I often think of how such souls need steadfast friends to stand in the gap. They need intercessors—believers who have faith in prayer so as to bring the name of Drake before the throne of God—often.
Please remember your neighbors who grope through one night or another. Lift them from your heart to the heart of God. It is part of being faithful.
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