I was sitting in a run-down apartment next to Bert, a confused drug addict with multiple personality disorder. My mom handed me a big empty book with my name on the cover and told me to look at the first page. There was a picture of me as a baby and a note from my dad: “It’s too bad you were born to two irresponsible crack addicts.” Those were the first lines in my baby book. I remember looking up at my mom and wondering what it meant.

By God’s grace, my tender grandparents took me in after I was born and gave me a stable home that neither of my parents could have given me. My relationship with my parents was always sketchy. It left me confused in elementary school when kids asked me about my mom or dad.

There’s something strange about the love between a child and a mother. It seemed like no matter how much she broke my heart, I always loved her. She’d promise to take me to the carnival. Or come and watch a movie, or read a book to me. Night after night, I found myself sitting at the front of the stairs, staring at the door with the faithfulness only a child can have. I was waiting for my precious mommy to come by. But what are broken promises to an only son amid the strangling addiction of drugs?

My own story seems dark to some, but I don’t see it that way at all. When I share it with people, they’re taken aback by how unfortunate it sounds. I don’t see it as a bad story, though. God gave me a world of opportunity. While my mom was living in the back of a van, I was going to school and learning about God’s Word. When my dad ended up in jail, I was getting ready to graduate from high school—at the top of my class. I’ve never known of two high school dropouts who were more proud of their son, even though they had almost no influence in my rearing.

God took an illegitimate child of two crack addicts and put that child in a Christian home. I grew up with the best education I could have, and once I had grown older, I got back in touch with my parents. My mom and her roommate gave up drugs and were baptized. As for my dad, I began writing letters to him in prison, and what was once a weak belief in God is now an exploding fervor to seek the Lord as I share with him my studies from Bible college.

Not unlike Moses and the children of Israel, my parents were enslaved to something they could not overcome, and God allowed me into their lives to show them God’s saving grace. It is through God alone that we can find salvation, and his plans are far beyond our own imagination.

It is only now that I am able to look back and see what God’s plan for my life in the past has been, and I look forward to the plans God has for me in the future. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 15, 2009 - Bringing Christ to French Guiana
November 1, 2009 - Walking the edge
October 18, 2009 - Watch what you say
October 4, 2009 - Proposing a new proverb
September 20, 2009 - Fear and trembling
September 6, 2009 - Elwyn
August 23, 2009 - Where did the Bible go?
August 9, 2009 - The public school: a local mission field
July 26, 2009 - Astonishing the judges
July 12, 2009 - Letting the past go
June 28, 2009 - Line up
June 14, 2009 - The path to spiritual growth
May 31, 2009 - A tribute to one of my heroes
May 17, 2009 - Silent soldier
April 19, 2009 - Operation Resensitization
April 5, 2009 - The temptations of ministers
March 8, 2009 - Conversation over shoes
February 22, 2009 - By their plurals you shall know them
February 8, 2009 - What is missing from your retirement plans?
January 25, 2009 - Turn the page
December 28, 2008 - Abba, Father
December 14, 2008 - Elementary truths
November 30, 2008 - The illusion
October 19, 2008 - Acting like a toddler
October 5, 2008 - Don’t miss this
September 21, 2008 - Foolish schemes
August 24, 2008 - The dance
August 10, 2008 - Strange land
July 27, 2008 - God’s amazing grace
July 13, 2008 - A best seller
June 29, 2008 - My grandfather’s clock and worship
June 1, 2008 - Reclaiming the name
May 4, 2008 - God is not our fairy godmother
April 6, 2008 - Success: what is it and who can measure up?
March 9, 2008 - Need to know
February 10, 2008 - The top three myths of singleness
January 13, 2008 - By invitation only
December 5, 2007 - Yes, Abbie, there is a Jesus
November 18, 2007 - 10 Ways to be a good Christmas customer
October 21, 2007 - The dividing line
September 23, 2007 - What do you fear?
September 9, 2007 - A life well lived
August 26, 2007 - To murmur, or not to murmur
July 29, 2007 - The cross and the Christian
July 15, 2007 - Turning the other cheek: still a valuable biblical principle
July 1, 2007 - Why the tie?
June 3, 2007 - The death of a son
May 6, 2007 - A prayer for the dying
April 8, 2007 - The omnipresent God
March 11, 2007 - Do the Amish have superheroes?
February 11, 2007 - What’s your black history?
January 14, 2007 - The split branch
December 31, 2006 - The house of regret
December 10, 2006 - The redemption of the innkeeper
November 26, 2006 - Too many choices
November 12, 2006 - Break the bashing habit: Learning to love the unsaved like Christ does: November 12, 2006
October 15, 2006 - Be ‘salt and light’ this Christmas!: October 15, 2006
September 17, 2006 - Who is a legalist?: September 17, 2006 Issue 38
July 23, 2006 - God speaks through our brokenness: July 23, 2006 Issue 38
June 25, 2006 - 'What I am looking for in my church leaders'