Reality

I am watching my brother grieve over the loss of one of his friends. My brother, Zach, is 18, and his friend died last week. Apparently, he was drunk, on drugs, or both, not sure, and I guess had passed out at a friend's house. He woke up throwing up on himself, and then, choked on his vomit. The boy's friend's parents found him dead, surrounded by his vomit. Zach attended his funeral last night. He is pretty torn up about it. I am so saddened by this. How the parent's must feel. I lost a child, but it was God who called her home. I guess it is always God who calls us home, but when it is under these circumstances, all kinds of thoughts flood my mind. I always, of course, wonder if they had ever asked Jesus to come into their lives, and then, why were they in the position they were in. Why did that boy get so messed up? Was he so sad, lonely? Or was it a social setting, where everyone got messed up beyond their limits? I PRAY I can hold my children as close as I can, and teach them to love the Lord more than things of the world, and perhaps, in doing so, eliminate their desire to find comfort and numbing from drugs and alcohol. But as I have learned, you cannot teach your children to have more faith than you have, yourself. So, the key is to stay in the Lord's presence daily. In His Word, with His People, and telling others of His love. And showing my kids that we can live each day, with a mission, of loving and helping others, and not living for self-gratification. That is a selfish way of life, and does not glorify God.

Proverbs 22:6

6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it