Alumni

Bible Released Time has seen hundreds of students through the classroom over the last decade. We have seen great hope for the future and at least as much fear and despair. We have consistently heard the desire to escape Brownsville and all that it represents. Among our alumni are military, Ph.Ds, professional athletes and ministers. We also have seen our share of convicts, unwed mothers and irresponsible fathers; many before or even if they graduate.

This is a story about “John”.

John had an infectious smile and a big personality. He was a natural leader that oscillated between arrogance and insecurity. One of his strengths, the desire to please, was also one of his greatest weaknesses. He could easily shift from leading a discussion and asking smart or provocative questions to degenerating the conversation and becoming the class clown. It was this latter, disruptive behavior that ultimately got him kicked out of the class. And yet, I counted John as a friend.

John always had the opportunity to return. But he never asked and he never apologized. It’s possible that it was his pride that kept him away. It’s also possible that it never even struck him that he could return, that he could be redeemed. That is a place of hopelessness and great despair. I heard several months later that he was kicked out of school.

A year went by before I saw John again. It was at the funeral of a young girl and her father who tragically died in a fire. This young girl was overcome by smoke and flames and died trying to save her handicapped dad. The contrast between the sacrifice of this young girl and John’s life was harsh.

It was after the funeral when I asked him what happened at school. He blamed me… “since I couldn’t go to Bible Released Time anymore, I didn’t have any reason to go to school”.

I could only respond “John, that was on you.” It was his behavior, his decision and his refusal to repent that led to his expulsion. Some have told me this was a tragedy; I disagree. It’s a tragedy that a middle school girl and her father died in a fire. John’s life was a matter of decision. I walked away from that conversation disappointed in his decisions but not mine.

I would guess another year passed before I heard John’s name again. He was living or spending time at one of the local housing projects. Apparently, he was dealing drugs and, one summer day, became upset with a woman who was visiting. She was in the driver seat of her car when he reached in and struck her.

Some time later, the woman came back with her boyfriend. John was still hanging around when they drove by, pointed a gun at him and killed him on the spot.

We don’t have many “things” we can really call our own. Our decisions are one of those things. I am grateful for that. In fact, is it because we are created in the image of God that we have choice and we have free will.

John’s life was marked by a series of choices that day he left our class. Choices and decisions that carried him through his life. Choices that ultimately led to his death. And a choice, that was never made, to take him out of that spiral, to return to life… to return to God.

Today, you will make many decisions. And today, you will make a choice. Today, you will choose life or death. There is one day that decision will be too late. I pray you choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:10-20)