A Long Way from Home

Just Wait “I can’t wait until I am grown. I want to get out of this house and do my own thing. I won’t have to listen to anyone. I want to be my own person.” That’s the shout going forth from many youth today. Many homes have been robbed of their teenage children due to such mentality. Not long ago, there was a newspaper article about the sister of a young man who had apparently committed suicide in his late teens. The young lady quietly commented, “I did not understand my parents when I was a teenager, but when I got older, around twenty years old, everything they said to me began to make sense. Just wait. Just wait. Just wait until you’re twenty. It will all make sense then.” The Real World Life is full of surprises. You can often become blinded by your own desires. Crowded by the false opinions of others, the blurred view of television and the fabricated tales of others, you can become unaware and unprepared for the real world. God provides good parents to train, lead, and guide you so that you won’t make the same mistakes that your parents made. Any good parent wants his or her children to do better, to be better, and to go farther in life than he or she did. The Bible, our guide and road map, is stuffed with examples for us to follow. There are examples and illustrations of those who stayed with God and were rewarded, and there are the escapades of those who lived foolish lives, wasting their money and never mounting up to be what God intended for them to be. Mercifully, some have tasted the so called “good life” and survived to tell others, “It’s not what you think. Stay with God. Stay home. Keep your virginity until your wedding night. Stay in school. Get your education. Do something with your life. There will be time. There will be time for all that other stuff.” Excerpts from: “A Long Way From Home” When life comes full circle, you will realize All you ever needed, you already had You just refused to listen Envisioned Freedom Denise, like the prodigal son, was eager to vacate the family nest and begin her journey as an adult. She would be eighteen years old soon, and she had been planning her birthday for months. Denise had been contemplating and envisioning her “freedom.” She thought of freedom as getting away from Mom and Dad and being on her own. So many teens are seduced this way. Life is hard and often the “realness” of life is camouflaged by television, lies, and suggestions of friends. Parents’ warnings often fade to the background once a teenager has his or her mind made up. Denise believed that she knew all about life and was in control of her destiny. There would be no curfew, no rules to abide by, no more church, and no one to answer to. Satisfaction in Suffering William finally made it home and frantically entered the door and rushed into Denise’s room. She was all packed and sitting on her bed. Her face was filled with sternness and an uncompromising expression. It would seem that she had rehearsed this moment—that she had predicted William’s response, anticipated and even longed for the hurt, which flushed in his frightful face. With each word that William poured forth in anguish and desperation, Denise felt gratified, justified. She felt satisfaction in his suffering. She was delighted as Denise looked still-faced into William’s tear-filled eyes. She seemed to be without feelings. Denise poured forth with a mocking, bitter spirit. It was too hard to watch. Her eyes were all aglow, not with joy but with revenge, anger, and hostility. She displayed this arrogance as William emptied himself at her feet. How Did the Light Get Broken? They questioned one another about how the back light could have been broken. They arrived at a local hardware store, purchased some items, and returned the van only to find that the trunk was left opened once again. They each looked with fear into the eyes of the other and jumped in the van and raced back to the abandoned apartment building. Without saying one word to the other, they both knew what the other was thinking—the last few hours, the door being left unlocked, the trunk left unlocked, the back light broken and finally, being stopped by the cops. Something wasn’t adding up. They exited the half-parked van and ran into the apartment building. They raced to the place where they thought they had left Denise. It was like the last few miles of a long, long race, with the finish line in view. One man ran and pushed the other man, who then fell to the floor with both eyes focused toward the room where Denise had been held captive. The other man, panting, full of fear, anxious, and now flushed with anger, pushed through the door and ran toward what seemed to be a body covered by a worn, dust-filled blanket. As he swiftly threw the blanket back, his mind raced with the possibilities of imprisonment and even the charge of murder. The cover came unpeeled in his hands, as it moved at the horrified man’s forceful command. His eyes stared down toward the image. The other man still lay fearfully on the floor, near the entrance. The man on the floor knew that bad or good would be determined by the next words from that room. She was gone!