Christian ADV Rider Forum

I was asked to give this @ Church last Easter.... I hope it will bless and or encourage some of you~

I am a transplant from Southern California where I was born smack dab in the middle of the last century�  I was born very young, and it was rumored that I came out with roller skates on~
I was lucky enough to be born into a family of parents who both got saved when I was young, so I went to church with them� it seemed like every service we went�  they went because they wanted to be there, to be with their friends, to worship and to be useful to God�  not because they had to. I went because I was young and that�s what you do.  I got saved and baptized at around the age of twelve, and I did the best I could for God� to honor him, serve him, and invited school and neighborhood friends to Church so they could meet my Lord and Savior. I wanted to be the best Christian I could, just like my parents�
Now because y�all didn�t know me back then, I will tell you that I was a high energy happy go lucky hyperactive kid who functioned quite well on only 3 hours of sleep each night. The rest of the time I ran hard and played the same way . I prolly had ADD & ADHD and possibly a side dish of EIEIO, but that was long before we had these labels to help identify these problems, & or disorders.   Let me just say, everyone in the neighborhood knew both me and my brother, and no tree unclimbed within a 5 mile radius.!
You know� you grow up in this environment and it�s good and it�s safe, but it�s sheltered, and your faith is pretty much untested.
Enter the sixties in Southern California�  There was no shortage of new music, thoughts, various distractions and other enticements going around down there which were contrary to my parents religion and church. I began to question things, my parents � everything.  I started looking around at the people in the church and began fixating on some of the phony ones, and the hypocrites..  Here satan stepped in to give me a hand pointing out stuff that I hadn�t even thought of�  At some point I turned my back on the Lord and dismissed the Organized Church as �the head in the sand club�.
But all the while in the background�
I had parents that loved me.  I had parents that loved me even though I confronted them, argued with and ran them ragged� I had a mom who prayed for me even though many nights she cried herself to sleep because of me. My dad was working either swing shift or gave yard shift, and when he got home he would �balance the books� so to speak� Later on in my life, in the scary times they fearlessly and relentlessly stood in the gap interceding for me~
In Genesis it talks about how Abraham contended with God for Lot, and bargained for both his life and safety.  It�s in the 18th chapter and starts around verse 22. Unbeknownst to Lot who was off doing his own thing, Abraham was talking to God for him to be saved. He was able to spare Lot from the destruction that was imminent. 
Do you think that Lot was spared because he deserved it? Then read verse 29! If you think he was spared because his good moral living entitled him to it then maybe read verses 32-38. In my humble opinion Lot didn�t deserve to be spared but through the love of God and honored prayers of Abraham, he was spared! Verse 26, his wife not so much~
I met a gal down there and moved to Canada to live with her and then got married� we were together for a couple of years and had a son� We had her plan to travel through Europe, and I went up north to work in the oil patch to make some great money.. she stayed in Vancouver and spent the money I thought we were saving for the trip. While I was up there, party girl was down here and met someone else..  apparently it got intense and she got scared and moved up to Ft. St. John where I was at. The long continuous days and hours didn�t help our marriage one bit, and she left me and moved back to Vancouver taking my son with her�. Now if it falls apart and it�s just you and her it�s one thing, but when there are kids involved it�s a whole different ballgame.. she moved in with a drug dealer and they slipped off the radar. I was not allowed to know where they were or anything about my son who was the one I really cared about. I stayed up there and was nearly killed twice on the rigs� (a peek up the grim reapers skirt is not a pretty sight) I payed off our bills, bought a motorcycle.. and saved some money for a long ride down into Mexico to thaw out my bones, refine my tequila drinking art, and figure out my next move.. Mexico never happened which is good because with the amount of hurt anger and red out rage I had I woulda prolly died in a shootout down there somewhere.
I went back to L.A. for a coupla months staying with my friend and trying to get my head together, and then came back here staying with a friend who was an alcoholic who was rapidly reaching his bottom�. That was fun for him� eventually he went into the 12 step program, and of course told me about a program that I needed. I joined this group trying to get a handle on my anger and quick temper� I am grateful to the program for the four years I was involved�  when I came into the program I was not ready to walk into a church or anything like that�  after a coupla months one day I was standing at a light waiting to cross the street and looked down to realize that my hands foir the first time weren�t clenched in a fist! Woohoo! Christians were still the head in the sand club to me although I was the one with my head in the sand. I believe the Lord used that program to bring me back to himself� and it�s been a long slow road back into his loving caring arms� arms that I didn�t believe would ever take me back! My parents never once stopped praying~ 
I stand here tonight as an undeserving Lot. I stand here as the prodigal son who when he couldn�t get his own way with God, had spit in his face,  and ran off to attend the �church of Bill�, and who through the prayers of my parents , grandparents, aunts, uncles and church folk I have never met, yet�.  But mainly because of parents who prayed for me every day for 22 years. I stand here as a servant to my Lord Jesus who took me back when I didn�t deserve it�  who welcomed me with love when I deserved to be kicked to the curb for many of the things I have done�.
I suspect there are others here tonight who understand this & are or were in the same boat as me. Many of us had parents praying for us� Thank them and thank God for them. If you didn�t have parents like that, then YOU have the opportunity to be that person for your kids, or friends or family. BE THAT PERSON! The prayers of parents are strong�. The prayers of a mother are especially strong! And when we come back to the Lord, we come back with a gratefulness and brokenness that he can use.  We are also usually wise enough not to fall for the stuff that got us the first time.  This is an example of how much God loved us, and why he willingly went to the cross to do whatever it took  for a buncha mutts who didn�t and don�t deserve such love and mercy�  My dad loved me, my mom loved me, and they believed that my Lord loved me most of all.
Be encouraged!!! You are Loved by the most high God,( and maybe even by some of the folks around you)~  Even when you�re discouraged, don�t give up on praying for yer  children, yer family, yer prodigals�. Yer prayers are much stronger than you think!
God hears you, he hears you!

thanks for the encouragement....I,ll be praying for kids and family NOW!