“For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:16-18)

These are restless individuals, uneasy, always preparing and planning for evil. They are discontent, hearts aflame with passions uncontrolled. Their appetite is for wickedness, and they thirst for violence. The storm of ungodliness rages in their soul. This is truly a sorrowful and sad state to know, but it is precisely the state in which I lived in the winter of 1975. The façade had been taken away. The days of being a successful athlete, a hardworking, good, and honest person, were but hazy memories of a past not too long ago. There was a wickedness that was raging in my heart that could not be satisfied and I truly feared for my life. What was I too be? Would I go to a drunkard’s grave? Was there an overdose in my near future? Would the abuses of alcohol and drugs combine to create a horrific car accident taking my life or worse the life of another?

In the early morning hours of December 27, 1975, I came to my parent’s home in a drunken, hazy stupor, with these thoughts pouring through my mind. Hopeless, angry, bitter at the circumstances of my life, when suddenly I saw the bible sitting on the dresser. My parents had placed a Bible in my room. I had never noticed it before that moment. I knew nothing of the Bible. I respected nothing in the Bible. But out of sheer desperation I grabbed it, and these were the first words my eyes beheld. “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.” (Proverbs 4:16-17)

There was a deep sense of conviction that came upon my heart. An overwhelming sense of guilt and shame, I tried to quote the “Lord’s prayer” but got no further than “Our Father which art in heaven,…” as I could remember no more. With tears running down my face, I simply said: “Oh God, forgive me!” Instantly I knew two things were true. (1) God was real. (2) HE had just forgiven me. For these many years from that day to this, I have never doubted those realities for they have become more and more real to me as my walk with God has matured. When the sun rose on that Saturday morning, I was off to see my friends, who were for the most part alcoholics and drug addicts. I wanted them to know that God was real and if you asked HIM, HE would forgive you. Their responses were less than positive. But I was good with that for I was free and forgiven. I had a new journey before me that was more than exciting. In June of that year, just one month before my wedding to my most beloved Berdina, someone at church told me the Psalms were God’s book of worship and Proverbs were HIS words of wisdom. If I read five Psalms in a day and one Proverb a day, I could read through both books in a single month. On the 4th day, it was my great delight to find the passage that God used to introduce me to HIMSELF which now included verse 18. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18) What a journey it has been over these many years to discover the riches of the Word of God as they brought more life and blessing to my soul. God is good. HE is so very, very, very Good. Do you KNOW HIM?