Everyone Is Worth Rebuilding... EVERYONE...

A friend of ours called us the other day. He talked to Rich first. I guess he had asked Rich if we go to church. I heard the reply. Rich said that we don't have a church to go to...but we believe in God and have alot of faith. I wondered about why he would ask that.

I talked to him for a long while after Rich had talked to him. He had been drinking. I could tell by the way his words slurred and stammered around. During the conversation he said to me... "I've been drinking a little... more like a lot." I said to him... "No Way! I couldn't tell..." ((I was joking and he knew it))

He got really serious and said... "I love you guys... and I feel real bad for what all you have had to go through with Rich's heart and all." I told him that we loved him too... very much... and that life happens and we have to deal with what we are given... and that he should not feel bad for us because we have had a lot of blessings even though we have had alot of heartaches too. I told him that God has taken care of us through it all.

He got really quiet again... and in his drunken slurry of words he said... "I believe in God. I believe that there is a higher power out there. I believe he takes care of us." I told him that without God watching over us I don't know what would have happened. Then he said... "I drink alot... I mean... ALOT... and I will probably go to hell for that... but... I am a good person." I said... "Yes... you are a good person... you have a good heart." My heart immediately started praying for him silently on the inside in the deepest part of my soul. I told him... "Naaaahh... you won't go to hell." ((My mind was thinking "Not if I can help it!"))

Then... he asked... a question I never thought through his drunkenness he would ever ask... "God can forgive us though... right?"

My heart leaped for joy! I told him... "Yes... he forgives you... he forgives us for all that we do that is bad... if we ask him."

Then... I heard him almost whisper... "God forgives us."

We talked for a long time after that about all kinds of things... mostly me trying to understand what all he was saying. I begged him not to drive anywhere. He told me he was 15 miles from no where... and I told him that was good and to keep it that way.

I prayed for God to put His love and joy into our friend's heart... to take place of what the alcohol is trying to fill. I know that he enjoys his drink... but... I enjoy praying to my God... to try to save our best friend's soul.

I heard something a few days later... this has been ever present in my mind...

~*~Everyone is worth rebuilding. I don't care what you've done in life... God can rebuild you and if God can forgive you... so can I. We go through tough times but we can survive them... with dignity and love.~*~

"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins."~Psalm 25:16-18~