Things CAN Change

By Gobel Brockman


I don't really know why, but I've been thinking about my high school days a lot lately. (Yes, it's getting harder to remember them. Thanks for asking.) For some people, high school was a great time, filled with great memories of times with great friends. Not for me. That time period is among the worst of my life. Thing is, there's no one to blame but myself.

Around the time I was 14 or 15, I started 'dabbling' in drugs and alcohol. And I learned very quickly that those choices come with consequences. It wasn't long before it pretty much consumed me, to the point that some very crazy - and very stupid - things began to happen:

*I used to sit in the parking lot before school and get high or drunk almost daily.
*On more than one occasion I passed out in class at Central Nine.
*I once passed out in the middle of US 31 trying to get home from a party.
*I once helped buy PCP to put in another student's Coke.

I could go on (unfortunately), but I think I've made my point. My life was a mess. And everyone around me could see it. In our 'Senior Edition', there was a section titled something like "Songs We'll Remember Them By." Mine was "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." But here's the point I want to make - THAT PERSON IS GONE. On January 7th, 1981, I made the most important decision I've ever made; I accepted the fact that I was lost, and that my only hope was Jesus. Not a church, not a religion, But HIM. Jesus Christ. Have I been perfect since then? Of course not. Do I still need grace? Every day of my life. But my life has been forever changed.

You may ask, "That's great, but what does that have to do with me?" Simple - is there something in your life that's out of control? Are you in a situation that you have no idea how to deal with? Illness, death of a loved one, addictions for you or someone you love? I'm walking proof that CHANGE CAN HAPPEN. The same God that set me free can do it for you as well. If that's you, I don't present church or religion to you - I give you Jesus.

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, all things are become new." II Corinthians 5:17