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My big brother sobered up for a while, and remarried another young woman. He was in a position to take over a lucrative business that his new wife’s father had built, until he had an affair with his step-mother-in-law. His second wife divorced him after the affair was discovered.

Then Rick remarried the woman with whom he had an affair, slipping back into his drug habit. He landed in the hospital again and I received a call from his wife saying, “You don’t know me, but Ricky’s calling out for his little brother.” I talked with her, then him. Then I called a pastor friend in the town in which Ricky was living at the time. My pastor friend sent an evangelistic team to the hospital to talk to my brother about the Lord. Ricky again expressed his disappointment with God, that he did not need a God who would expect him to change his life, that he could quit drugs anytime he wanted.

One member of the team that went to visit my brother in the hospital had been a drug addict for many years until he committed his life to the Lord. He also was a relative of the great Evangelist Billy Graham. When my brother expressed his lack of desire to turn from his addictions to the only One who can deliver, this man told Ricky’s wife, “Prepare to lose everything you own. He will lie, cheat, manipulate and sell everything in sight to support his drug habit. I did it, and he will, too.”

Ricky told them to leave the hospital room. He is disciplined; always has been and can overcome any habit he wants to.

To make a long, sad story short, my mother died of a heart attack on December 31, 1995, at the age of 56. The cash for Ricky’s drug habit was buried with her. Dad, who had never stepped in to stop the flow of money before, now put his foot down and determined to make Ricky pay his own way, since he was now over 40 years old.

To Rick, this was another sign that God was letting him down.

As the “family pastor” I am expected to speak at all of the funerals, perform weddings, etc., etc. Ricky hugged me after Mom’s funeral, told me that he missed our weekly talks, and that we should stay in better touch. We exchanged contact information.

Ricky called me in July of 1998 and said, “Hey, little bro’, do you still have those books we used to do together? You remember. That summer you practically lived on my couch. We’d read the Bible together, go out and shoot some hoops. We ran together. We read the Bible almost every day, filling out those little books. Man that was the best time of my life. Can you send me some more of those books?”

Our family had moved to Lawrence, KS to begin a church. We did not know anyone prior to moving to this town that is home to the University of Kansas. God was moving, and a fabulous church was beginning to form, that eventually grew to be around 1,000.

I assured Rick that I could get my hands on some of those little books, and would send them right away, which I did. I jokingly told him I would call him in a couple of weeks to see if he was ready for the Advanced Set. Better yet, he should come see us in Kansas, to help me solve one of the great mysteries of the universe. Is Kansas, in fact, flatter than a pancake? He said he would like that, if he could shake free from working all the time.

I asked where he was with the Lord. He, again, was evasive. I gently probed into the drug issue. Again, elusive in his reply. He thanked me for getting those books to him right away.

Rejoicing, On the Victory Side!

Beau

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