I was home....
In my chair....
Ballgame was about to start...Colts and Chiefs.
Phone rings...
"Hello.."
"Bro. Mike!"
I knew exactly who it was. Had not heard from him in month's...
Sometimes when you get these kind of calls you hold your breath, because you don't know whether it's going to be good news or bad.
You don't know if the person on the other end is going to be truthful or lie to you.
"It's Jeremy, Bro. Mike...I just wanted to call and catch you up on what's been going down."
Jeremy had a history of addiction that stretched back years.
The last time he had entered treatment, he'd been living in a corn field.
All the bridges had been burned...
He'd scammed every one he knew to get what he needed, leaving behind himself a trail of broken relationships. No wonder no one wanted anything to do with him. Such is the nature of the beast we call addiction.
"Guess what I'm doing Bro. Mike?" I had not clue.
"I driving my truck. My truck Bro. Mike. Can you believe that I have a truck?"
Seems as though Jeremy had finally made the turn to sobriety.
He was working for a good company who sent him out on jobs.
They were so impressed with his work and his character, they began to invest in Jeremy.
The truck was one of the perks that came with the job. Jeremy had learned to take care of all the little things that had tripped him up in the past. Bad places, bad people and bad things were in his past.
Now, in order to understand this good fortune, you have to go back to last year.
Jeremy had an encounter that changed his life.
He met the real-deal God.
And that meeting changed him. He began to see things differently. He began to think and make choices that were not the norm for him. He began to listen to God and simply do what he heard. If that wasn't strange enough, last year Jeremy told the staff at the rehab that he had some old charges that he wanted to take care of. Knowing that this would mean jail time, Jeremy went and turned himself in. Sure enough Jeremy went to jail. But this time it was different, he told me. This time he knew that he was moving forward in his life and putting all these bad things behind him. He wasn't running any more but was willing to face the music, so to speak.
Finishing his time in jail, Jeremy came out stronger and ready to move on. He was able to secure his current job. But all during our conversation, Jeremy kept saying, "It was God who did this, not me." Over and over Jeremy kept giving God the glory for what he was experiencing. Jeremy knew that his new found life was simply because he quit running and began to take care of the destruction he had created. "Bro. Mike, if I'd known that life could be this way, I'd gone to jail years ago."
While enjoying his new life, Jeremy knew that there were several hard month's, maybe even years, out there ahead of him. But he also knew that he was moving forward under the watchful eye and care of a POWER greater than himself. That POWER has a name, and that name is JESUS.
The Jeremy I was having a conversation with was not the same Jeremy I knew last year.
He was a new creation...
The old things had passed...
The new things had come...
Such is the nature and heart of a God who looks for those whose hearts are committed to Him, that He may strengthen them (II Chron. 16:9).
As we finished our conversation, I was filled with gratefulness that Jeremy had found the truth. Truth that declared he didn't have to live a life addiction any more...today.
God on you...
michael b.
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