2005 Volume 2
How Do I Handle This?
By Jim Taylor
THANKFULNESS
”Hello” the voice on the phone said hesitantly. ”Terry, this is Jim Taylor,” I answered. There was a moment of silence and then I could hear sobbing. ”What’s going on?” I asked. Terry answered, ”I was just sitting here in my office with a cocked .38 pistol. I was getting ready to put it in my mouth and pull the trigger.” My heart jumped. It was a good thing I had not put off the urge to call him, I thought. ”Hey, put the gun down and let’s talk.” Over the next hour I talked with and listened to Terry and began to share with him some ideas as to how he could get through what he was facing. Terry was not a Christian in the vital sense. He had gone to church and did acknowledge that there was a God. He knew what Jesus had done, at least historically. He knew about praying, but as far as I knew, he had never had a personal encounter with the Lord. I began to share with him the basics of thanking God ”...always for all things...” (Ephesians 5:20) and how it is God’s will that we give thanks ”In everything...” (I Thessalonians 5:18) Over the next few weeks he began to practise what I had shared with him and to thank the Lord for everything. The good, the bad, the ugly. The important and the unimportant.
Within a year his personal life had turned around. No, his problems did not disappear. But his ”old” personality did. Where before he had been a self-styled curmudgeon, now he was a grateful, thankful person, able to look on the bright side of things. And if he was not always positive, he at least knew Who held his future and that He had his best interests at heart. The change was so radical that at an annual gathering of fellow shooting enthusiasts many remarks were made as to ”how Terry has changed!” A lot of the remarks were made by friends who did not know exactly what had happened but could see that it was positive. It was a testimony to God’s grace.