I don’t remember his name exactly but I think it was Alex. I
was a junior in High School and it was 1969. He was a new student. The rumor
was that he recently moved here from California. He had long hair and stayed to
himself most of the time. He had a rough attitude that kept most other people
away including teachers and the bus driver. He rode the bus to school with me
but he always sat alone.
One morning Alex pulled the window down and lit up. A few
people asked him to put the window up but he said he couldn’t and kept on
smoking. I sat behind him and had grown up with smokers in the family. But this
did not smell like any cigarette I had been around. It had a sickening sweet
smell that I learned later was marijuana. It was the first time I had ever been
around it.
I did not see Alex much after that. He was kicked off the
bus and I think he dropped out of school. Then one summer day, over a year
later, a car drove up my driveway. When the door open two guys got out, one of
them was Alex. He was grinning from ear to ear. I knew who it was but I could
see right away that he was a very different person than the Alex I had known
from the school bus.
Alex had become a Christian and I was one of the first
people he wanted to tell. I did not think he even knew who I was. Apparently he
had been listening when I sat behind him and talked about Jesus and Church and
the Lord’s call on my life to preach. He knew all about me and that was the
reason he wanted me to know about his decision. He had joined a group of
Christian youth in Edwardsville, Illinois, who had a similar background to his
own and now they were going back to old friends and telling them how Jesus was
better than the drugs and everything else in their life and that He had set
them free in His salvation!
Alex is one of many people I have known over the years who
have gone from drugs to Jesus. All of them, even the ones who had to go through
a difficult rehab, knew that they could not serve Christ and drugs including
marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. Clean is clean, one of them used to say to me.
Every election is important and that makes our participation
important. This year there are some local issues that are especially important.
We need to stand against drug use of any kind whether it is alcohol, marijuana,
or anything else. These are moral issues and not just political. As Christians
we need to pray about how we vote and stand on Biblical principles.
Solomon said, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every
decision is from the LORD.” (Prov. 16:33 esv). We participate in the process
and God controls the outcome. I am convinced that sometimes the outcome is for
blessing and sometimes it is for judgment. We pray it is for blessing. Pray
about your vote and pray for our country. We need Revival, not by vote, but by
God’s Spirit.
Bro. Robin
