AUTHOR: Rona Davis
TITLE: The Cool Blue Made Jay Dan Sweat
DATE: 5:06:00 PM
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BODY:
As he stood staring at the blue cooler filled with beer, his heart beat in his young teenage chest. Sweat broke out through his pores. Just staring at the cooler he knew he was on the brink of a life altering decision. It was just beer, no big deal. For Jay Dan, somewhere in his soul, somewhere in the recesses of his spirit, he knew it was a big deal. He knew he was standing on the edge of the teenage peer pressure cliff. He knew if he put one foot out, he would fall into that temptation and it would only spiral out of control from there.
So many parents think Jay Dan's story won't happen to their kids, won't happen to their family. Jay Dan grew up in a wonderful Christian home. He attended a private Christian school where his mother was employed as a teacher. He was a gifted athlete and his abilities carried him through a few college years playing football and baseball. Everything we hear, everything given to us as some recipe for the perfect child that will never fall into the trap of drugs and alcohol or crime, all of those ingredients were in the mix of Jay Dan Gumm. Still, he went from gateway drugs (that blue cooler full of beer) to Jack Daniels to involvement with crystal meth.
The enemy is out to kill, steal and destroy. Period. There is no recipe that guarantees us our children are safe from that. They are not. The enemy knows no boundaries - he does not discriminate at all, not race, not gender, not economics, not age, and not church denomination. He comes after every soul! John 10:10a states it as clear as crystal - "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy..." (NIV). To make this point more aptly consider 1 Peter 5:8, "Be self-controlled and ALERT. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Now that's scary stuff people! And it's real. And it's relevant. Those are not just God-breathed words for the men and women of the first century A.D. Those words are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We must know the enemy is after us and he is even more focused on going after our kids. If he can knock out our kids then we all fall like dominoes. It is like he works his way to our throats through our hearts, that place where our children live so fully.
The answer to this recipe disaster can be found in James 5:16, Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. THE EFFECTUAL FERVANT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH. We have all seen that beautiful print in today's Christian book store. You know the one where the dad is stretched over his young son's bed at night or the mom is stretched over the daughters bed and in the background of either of these prints you see some ominous, dark, scary looking evil demon hovering just outside the giant bedroom window! What a wonderful depiction of this reality.
The enemy, our enemy, is out to kill, steal, and destroy. He roams about looking for whom he may devour. He prowls around looking for his next kill. Parents - the only defense we have is the blood of the Lamb. The only weapons we have in this war are prayer and God's Word. We need to use them both fervently, righteously, and frequently!
If you listen to Jay Dan's story, I have not doubt the outcome was because the effectual fervent prayers of his parents availed much and our God who is so merciful, so gracious, and so forgiving heard those prayers and continued to call on his prodigal son Jay Dan!
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