Choose Life

Oh, that you would choose life,

that you and your descendants might live.

Deuteronomy 30:19

Last week a young woman in a dark green car flew down my street and into my neighbor’s front yard.  She staggered out of her car and lay down on her back on their front porch.  She was clearly drunk, perhaps high, and it was a wonder she made it to her friends’ house.  A few minutes later, a man in a white pickup drove up and said that she had been in an accident with property destruction.  He called the police, and they showed up very quickly.  Her culpability was clear from the fresh damage on the back side/rear of her car, her drunken state, and the testimony of the witness.  The police arrested her and took her away.

The young woman’s sister showed up in tears just as her sister was being assisted into the police car.  Her mother and father showed up later that evening to retrieve the car.  They provided bail for their daughter, and when she got out, she went to her apartment and set her bed on fire.  The police arrested her again, and this time she stayed in jail for four days.  In my way of thinking, this young woman’s actions were a desperate cry for help.  Unfortunately, instead of being admitted to a treatment facility, she was released on her own recognizance at the end of the four days.  She went back to her place, emptied all the medication out of the bottles in the bathroom, and swallowed it all.  She was found dead yesterday morning.  She was only 24 years old.

One wonders what this young woman went through in her childhood and teenage years to cause her to turn to alcohol and drugs to get through her days.  What overwhelming pain would cause her to burn her bed?  What helplessness and hopelessness would lead her to believe that life was no longer worth living – that the only answer left was to commit suicide?

I grieve today for the young woman, her sister, and her parents, extended family and friends, including my neighbors next door, who have known her from childhood and are coping with shock and grief.  I hope they know the Lord Jesus and His undying love.  Whether they do or not, I pray that God will surround them with His Spirit of love, compassion and comfort.  Please pray with me for a life suddenly lost, and those who loved her who are left behind.

Today’s Prayer Needs

The family and friends of the young woman who died yesterday.

Joel, for responsibility in his college studies

Electrical Power for those in Virginia and North Carolina

who are still in the dark (myself included!)