A couple of weeks ago a former student (in his mid twenties) invited me to a graduation party. Chad was also celebrating the release of a book he had written. I was so happy to hear his news and told him I would come. Chad gave me a big hug when I arrived, almost lifting me off the ground. He stands 6’5″ and looks just as athletic as when he was in high school. He set a school record in pole vaulting his junior year but did not compete his senior year. His book, entitled INTERVENTION, tells what prevented him from completing his last year of high school.
I’ve had many friends through the years who have battled destructive habits of all types, but no one has explained addiction the way Chad does in this book. The language is blunt, but the story is true. For a young man, Chad is a great writer. He shared his wrongs, society’s pressures, and the devil’s tactics. He gives God the glory for his rescue and his parents credit for making the tough-love choice to intervene. Three days before he turned eighteen years old, Chad was ‘kidnapped’ from his own bedroom and sent to a wilderness rehabilitation program in Montana. INTERVENTION details the process of regaining a life of sobriety. Go to AMAZON and purchase the only book written by Chad Hepler and support a young author.
What if God had not intervened on our behalf? Whether an addict or not, sin doomed us all to death and destruction. What love the Father demonstrated in his plan of rescue! The Hero is none other than a dearly loved Son, who, after resisting every temptation, presented himself a perfect sacrifice and took all our deserved punishment upon himself at Calvary. Recently, another former student (in her late thirties) told me: “Coach Davis, for the first time in my life, I can honestly say I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.” After rejoicing with her I couldn’t help but ask a question: “How is it that a kid like you can be raised in a Christian home, go to church from day one, go to a Christian school, hear the truth all your life, but wait until now to really know Jesus?” Her answer was profound. “Coach Davis, I didn’t get it. The message went over my head… but I know why. Sin clouds everything. As long as I was in sin, my mind was in a fog… relationship with God made absolutely no sense.” We forget sin’s power to confuse, deceive, and destroy. Louie Giglio once said, “Sin has a way of shrinking God down in our own estimation while puffing self up.”
The preparation message for Jesus was: “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is near!” The enemy’s retort is always: “No, no, no… There’s no rush. You’re OK. Everything will be alright.” In response to this constant lie, Chad wrote the truth an addict must admit before he can ever be free. “No it won’t! It will never be better. It will never be different. It will never change. You will always be reaching, always missing, always trying, always tired, always disappointed and always in pain. The worst part is the pain gets worse. But there is an answer. One answer, one option, one path to cure this cycle. The one answer you don’t want to hear. The one answer you cover your ears whenever you even think it’s being mentioned. The one answer that makes you cringe: TURN AROUND!”
Can refusal to turn around trump intervention? God forbid.
“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” Mark 1:14-15 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you as holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:21-23