"i invite YOU in": COME to my FUNERAL

I just recently spoke in Concord, California at the prestigious Every 15 Minutes Program, held at Carondelet High School & De La Salle High School. This impressive program offers experiences that simulate real-life risks involved with drinking and driving, and texting while driving. The mood is somber and includes a mock funeral with caskets, pallbearers, and even a simulated crash scene, enacted the day before, which replays on the big screen.  The room is filled with gloom. It is a stellar attempt to show the real life horrific consequences of drinking and driving.  However, the show ends. And that’s the hardest part about attempting to make an impact—especially when you have lived through the consequences. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, personally, there’s this strong desire for the emotional response to remain with the students once the lights have gone out. Yet that’s out of your control and it’s up to the listener of the message to heed the message.  I digress. A lot of times I even need to heed and believe my own message--decisions determine destiny--and not just leave it at the podium or in the audiotrium. You see, after every presentation, my own thoughts and emotions can get the best of me and make me feel useless and shameful. And even silence (no feedback or comments) can exacerbate that feeling…but then I remind myself that God is always speaking!  I just always need ears to hear. A decision to listen truly affects my destiny. And with ears to hear these past few days, I am truly humbled by some of the interactions that God’s glory scripted into “my story.” One mother approached me immediately after I was done speaking and wrapped her arms around me. She then went on to explain how a drunk driver killed her husband on the exact date of my reckless and fatal decision--March 7th. She said she got the chills when she heard me highlight that date and was instantly taken into my experience, while reliving hers. She should have been MADD, but after she released me from this warm hug, she looked me in the eyes and said “thank you for speaking out from your side.” She went on to explain how her families’ offender never apologized and to see me owning my major error was giving her heart some solace that she never received. Similar experiences and feedback followed as many people lined up to talk to me or to graciously extend a genuine hug—leaving me astonished at how God brought me all the way across the country for me to hear His voice—which exudes grace and not condemnation.I take no credit for the amazing reception in California and I give God all the glory, honor, and praise for such favor. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). What enemies? The enemies of accusation and self-condemnation. Not necessarily from others, but from the self-reminder of guilt that blocks out God’s voice through others. When I hear God’s voice, I feel no such shame; because He is perpetually saying, “You are justified.” Just-as-if-I’d never done it. Nonetheless, it is my prayer that God will once again be writing out His glory through “my story” this Sunday, the 29th, at Mission Point Church in Somers Point. There will be no simulated accident scene or pallbearers like in California, but it will be like a funeral—for the old me is dead and gone! So please come out and join us at 7PM to hear about the birth of conviction and new life given in redemption.