A cry for help...

A friend of mine from high school posted the following on his Facebook page yesterday afternoon...

All my life i have been searching for something. That sometrhiung never copmes and it leaves to nothin. Never had this feeling that i feel th most.getting closer to the end od the road.

I happened to be the first of a handful of frightened friends to respond. I called him by name and said, "This sounds serious. What's going on?"

Several other friends responded with similar messages of encouragement and hope and invitations to talk...

Eight hours later, he has posted other things on his Facebook page with no alluding to his previous post...

My iWitness...

One of the saddest commentaries in my life over the last two years is the fact that I have known 13 people who have committed suicide.

13 people who have taken their life with their own hands...

13 families that have been devastated - wives, husbands, sons, daughters, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends...

13 funerals with loved ones scratching their heads and hearts in grotesque grief, disbelief, frustration, anger and guilt in not "recognizing" the signs that may or may not have been there all along.

13 groups of friends, co-workers, neighbors, "buddies", classmates confounded and confused

Needless to say my antennas are on high alert when I come across a Facebook post like the one above. It seems that a concerned Facebook Friend might have hit the nail on the head in recognzing that these are actual words to a song by the Foo Fighters called "All My Life."

Lyrics or not it seemed to be a cry for help...

I hope and pray that my friend knows that there are friends, that there are those of us who would go to great lengths to talk, chat, visit and pray and support him wherever he finds himself.

More than that... Jesus meets him right where he is!

He need not move a foot. He need not lean forward or backward. He need not say the "right" prayer or even the "wrong" prayer. He need not say 10 Hail Mary's. He need not say the Lord's Prayer. He need not utter a word to know that Jesus stands right before him, right behind him, right underneath him, right above him and right beside him.

"O Lord you are the Light of the World. Please bring your light to the darkened world of my friend and any others who may be reading this post this day. Please let my friend know that it is your Light that overcomes every darkness that threatens to undo us. It is the light of your love that lifts us out of the deepest cavernous cave of darkened disappointment. Lord Jesus you know firsthand what it means to scream out those words, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me." Hear the cry for help for my friend. Decimate the fears that overcome him. Comfort him with the comfort that wraps your strength around him with such force, with such tenderness and with such security that all of life's troubles trail off in this, his moment of great need. Set his feet on the rock solid ground of your grace, your mercy, your love, your power, your forgiveness and your hope... And lead him in the way everlasting... Amen..."

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
                                                                                                          (1 Peter 1. 3-5)

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and fear not!
David!

ps - Good news... I sent a Facebook message to my friend late last night and I received a positive and appreciative response from him as we exchanged cell phone numbers. Please continue to pray...