Did you know a section of The Bible has my life story in it?
I know you think I’m kidding, but I’m not.
It's right there in Luke 15, starting with verse 11. Luke didn’t use my real name to protect the innocent. He used an alias – Prodigal Son – but it is my original story.
Honest.
He only covered the “low-lites.” Let me give you the rest of the story…
I wasn’t always the prodigal. I was a pretty good kid when I was younger. I even went to church with my parents. I remember raising my hand after a salvation message and going forward to “get saved.” I did this a few times more because it didn’t seem to work.
I believed the Bible and wanted to be a Christian, but I assumed I needed to feel the Holy Spirit to be saved. Since I didn’t feel anything, I figured I wasn’t a Christian. It wasn’t long after I rationalized that if I was going to Hell I might as well live like hell.
It started innocently enough. I started to hang out at George’s, a small local bar that had snooker and pool tables in the back. (This was before playing pool became a respectable family recreation). I was too young to get inside the bar, but this smoke-filled backroom was a perfect breeding ground to grow prodigals like me.
Someone gave me a cigarette and I practiced how to hold it like John Wayne and blow smoke rings like Paul Newman. I thought I was so cool and independent. I didn’t realize I was becoming a slave to my addictions.
I became more and more unruly for my parents. They didn’t know how to deal with this young rebel. The Bible doesn’t describe what went on in my home, but my mother had developed early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and in my selfish condition I was battling my father at every turn.
Luke said I went to a distant country but it was only a little more than 100 miles south. I was running from God, so “distant country” is really a state of mind. I lived at the beach, met a lot of people like me and had fun for a season. Then I discovered drugs and partying.
I did well in college, even graduating with my teaching credential. But my addictions made me a slave to sin. I wanted the freedom I had at home. I was blind to the Truth I knew so well.
It was about this time, I realized life had nothing to offer me. When all the partying, drugs, and alcohol didn’t fill the hole in my soul, I became depressed and I started to look for ways to commit suicide without embarrassing my parents.
This was the point where Luke says I came to my senses. Actually, in a drunken stupor, I thumbed through a Bible my mother had given me as a child. I didn’t know what I was looking for but by God’s Grace, He had my finger stop on Romans 10:9, which says, “If you confess with your mouth, ’Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Is that all there is? I can do that. And I did. I was. And I am.
No offense to Luke, but he forgot to tell you the most important part. My parents never stopped praying for me. They never gave up on me no matter what. I am living for Jesus today because my parents continued to pray for me every day for more than ten years – even when I was at my lowest.
They asked God to bind Satan so I could come to my senses (Matthew 12:29). Even when no one else gave me a prayer, my parents never gave up on me. They loved me unconditionally and pleaded with God to open my eyes to the Truth. They remained faithful.
Do you know a prodigal? Never give up! Continue to pray! It’s never over!
