Dave’s Hope
Some of you know and are familiar with my friend, Dave, who comes and visits us at Destiny somewhat frequently. He’s a good guy that’s been in the hold of an alcoholic addiction for several years; he’s also been burned by the church, as a result of his addiction. I’ve been trying to build a relationship with Dave and show him that not all Christians are like the ones he has experienced in the past. I want to show him, as best that I can, that God will always love him and welcome him with open arms, no matter what.
Ever so often, Dave makes his way into one of Destiny’s Sunday morning services. He came in at the end of the service this Sunday… drunk. He was looking for me. He wanted to tell me about his past three months. He had been in some type of community program and had successfully been sober for 103 days! I was quick to celebrate his success, but he was also quick to admit his failure. He said that he lasted for about four days after he got out of the program — then he went back to his bottle.
He invited me over to his house to look at a collage that he had put together during his sober period at the center. He told me that this was created by the “real Dave”.
I was pretty blown away by the intense imagery. Several of the pics in the collage are of Dave, himself, from a very young age up to present. He labeled the middle section his “black hole”, representing his decent into alcoholic and it’s oppression. You can see where he took the word “decisions” and scrambled it to symbolize the confusion and hopelessness he feels. You can also see that he thinks it’s time for a change and that the key to his hope, he thinks, is in heaven. As you can guess, we had some good conversation today about his hope.
On the prayer walk we did with students two weeks ago, we stopped just outside of Dave’s residence and prayed for him as a group. Several of the students have already met Dave and have been praying for him. Several other students are now jumping on the bandwagon as a result of hearing the others pray for him. As we were holding hands in a circle there, one of the students mentioned the creek that runs next to Dave’s property reminded him of the cleaning, purifying power of the Cross. The picture he was seeing in his mind’s eye was that of every troubling “stone” in Dave’s life being washed away. I teared up at that.
Will you join me in praying for Dave’s hope? He’s searching. He’s REALLY trying to free himself of his demons. I believe that his “stones” are some day going to be washed away. I’m praying and hoping for sooner than later.