Her name was Terry - with a "y".
She was in our 'College and Career' class at Church, and was a little rough. Her Daddy was killed by a drunk driver when she was young, and her Momma tried her best to raise Terry and her two sisters, but Terry always seemed to have to do things the hard way.
We had had a couple of good conversations at Church - her and my youth assistant, Tucker - and she seemed SO CLOSE to "coming around". But she just kept making bad choices.
One day, Tuck and I were having our weekly youth workers meeting - he and I and a couple volunteers - and I suggested we just "pray down the list" of youth and young adults in our Church. We were taking turns praying for 3 or 4 at a time, and it was Tucker's turn to pray. The next name on the list was Terry.
Silence.
Tuck got choked up, and couldn't pray, and I felt something inside that said she really really needed prayer at that moment.
Tuck looked up at me and said, "let's go see her", and I already had my keys in my hand.
As we drove up to her house, she was sitting on the steps of her front porch smoking a cigarette. She looked pretty rough. Tuck sat down on one side of her, and I sat on the steps on her other side. Nobody spoke.
Then Terry said, "I wondered if you guys would come".
"What are you talking about," I asked.
She took a long draw on the last of her cigarette, flicked it into the yard, then said, "I just can't handle it anymore". She paused, and we waited. "I have my Daddy's .38 on my bed, and I just decided I would smoke this last cigarette, then 'check out'". We (Tuck and I) both put our arm around her, one on each side, and she sobbed, "I had just prayed, 'God - you gotta do something. Cause I'm not doing this anymore.'"
It obviously wasn't just "drama", because something "clicked" that day, and Terry "got it". She became quite active in our College and Career group, rededicated her life to Christ, and, last I heard, she had graduated college and had become a Baptist Student Union Director at a Texas college.
I still have her Daddy's .38.
She was in our 'College and Career' class at Church, and was a little rough. Her Daddy was killed by a drunk driver when she was young, and her Momma tried her best to raise Terry and her two sisters, but Terry always seemed to have to do things the hard way.
We had had a couple of good conversations at Church - her and my youth assistant, Tucker - and she seemed SO CLOSE to "coming around". But she just kept making bad choices.
One day, Tuck and I were having our weekly youth workers meeting - he and I and a couple volunteers - and I suggested we just "pray down the list" of youth and young adults in our Church. We were taking turns praying for 3 or 4 at a time, and it was Tucker's turn to pray. The next name on the list was Terry.
Silence.
Tuck got choked up, and couldn't pray, and I felt something inside that said she really really needed prayer at that moment.
Tuck looked up at me and said, "let's go see her", and I already had my keys in my hand.
As we drove up to her house, she was sitting on the steps of her front porch smoking a cigarette. She looked pretty rough. Tuck sat down on one side of her, and I sat on the steps on her other side. Nobody spoke.
Then Terry said, "I wondered if you guys would come".
"What are you talking about," I asked.
She took a long draw on the last of her cigarette, flicked it into the yard, then said, "I just can't handle it anymore". She paused, and we waited. "I have my Daddy's .38 on my bed, and I just decided I would smoke this last cigarette, then 'check out'". We (Tuck and I) both put our arm around her, one on each side, and she sobbed, "I had just prayed, 'God - you gotta do something. Cause I'm not doing this anymore.'"
It obviously wasn't just "drama", because something "clicked" that day, and Terry "got it". She became quite active in our College and Career group, rededicated her life to Christ, and, last I heard, she had graduated college and had become a Baptist Student Union Director at a Texas college.
I still have her Daddy's .38.
Comment