Suicide in the Church, Part 3

Suicide strikes...AGAIN!

This may wind up being the most important article some have ever read. I hope it will not only help a few readers, but that it will open the eyes of others, aiding in their understanding, motivating them to help. I trust there will be those who will actually clip it, mailing it to someone for whom they are concerned, or posting it in the breakroom.

I've written quite a bit about suicide over the past few weeks and have received some remarkable feedback. I wrote on the subject because there have been so many suicides lately and folks wanted answers. If you've read any of the previous articles, you've seen some frightening statistics. This subject remains heavy on my heart and continues to be a concern to many. For me, it started when a man with whom a dear friend had been interacting was found in his jail cell with a cable TV wire around his neck. Then, another friend who led a Bible study took his own life. Within days, this was followed by the suicide of another man who, along with his spouse, had prayed with and comforted the previous friend's wife.

Saturday, I officiated a wedding 2 hours away. Incredibly, on Sunday, the father of the bride took his own life.

My mind is reeling as I write.

Suicide has a frightening air of finality. Filled with hopelessness, despair, and tragedy, it's a word we like to keep at arms' length. As a whole, society tends to look down its nose at anyone who would commit this gruesome act. We call them selfish, cowardly...I must admit, after seeing that beautiful young bride and her dashing husband on Saturday, preparing to begin their lives together, if her father were standing alive before me now, I'd have a hard time refraining from beating the thunder out of him. How could he do that to his precious daughter?

But I recall the day, about 15 years ago, that suicide entered my thoughts in a different way. I had just lost my job with a Dallas ad agency and my wife had left me, taking our kids with her. For the first time in my life, I was all alone on a Thanksgiving, too broke to join any family gatherings taking place across the country. Our church friends had quickly chosen sides and had shunned yours truly. It was Thanksgiving Eve, sleeting and raining, about 16 below zero with the wind chill. I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a mobile Home, my entire world seemingly in shambles all around me. I remember waking up to the whirring sound of ball bearings rolling around in the furnace which was now spewing forth cold air. I was dizzy, disoriented, freezing to death in my sleep, I believe. Taking my own life with the razor sharp meat clever in the kitchen was the most natural thought in the world to me. I formulated a plan to slit my wrists, crawl back onto my mattress, and let them find me in the spring. Truly, I was experiencing the darkest hour of my soul.

But God stepped in. The atmosphere became charged as it does when a frisky puppy runs into a room or a bunch of children run through an open screen door to get a drink from the kitchen sink on a hot summer day. "Joy will come in the morning" suddenly echoed through my mind. I bundled up and made it through the night, only to be awakened next day by a startling crash as a sheet of ice melted and slid off the metal roof onto the frozen ground. I looked outside and the sun was glistening off the melting ice everywhere.

life got gradually better. Incredibly better. Today, I wouldn't trade mine for all the world.

Truth is, I discovered another option to suicide. I found it in the Bible, God's love letter to mankind. You know...that perennially best-selling book most Christians rarely read? The good news about the current state of Depression some may be feeling at this moment, is that God really DOES have a plan for your life - a plan that can only be fulfilled when we give everything over to Him. Listen, there IS a purpose for your life; a reason for your existence. Your current, dismal, emotional and spiritual state may be the very springboard you need for discovering just how valuable you are to Him, how your life can be transformed, and how others can be rescued by YOU. Tough time