Advent Devotional Guide

Our church did an Advent Devotional Guidefor this year. This is the one that I wrote for the guide. It was on December 1st. Let me know what you think.

Come back to the Lord your God, because He is kind and shows mercy. He doesn't become angry quickly, and He has great love. Joel 2:13

Lives are changed by the choices we make, whether good or bad. When we make choices, we must pay the consequences or reap the benefits. In years past I've made my share of bad choices, one of which was to drink and drive. Making that choice cost me a total of seven years in prison.

In 1998, I received a two year sentence and served the entire two years in prison. I was released in 2000. In 2001, I got another DWI and received a 20 year sentence, of which I served 5 years before being paroled.

While in prison in 2003, I realized that not the life I wanted to live. I realized that even though I had not hurt or killed anyone with drinking and driving, I had caused a lot of people in my life pain and heartache. The people in my life became victims. My wife became a victim, she had the responsibility of taking care of our two children alone and eventually divorced me. My children became victims because their dad wasn't around to be dad. My parents became victims because they took care of me while I was in prison. All of these people suffered hardships because of the selfish choices I made.

One morning at 2:00 am in my 6 by 9 foot cell I was reading a letter from my mom. I had written a letter of despair and hopelessness to her. She wrote back to me words I will never forget," I am not giving up on you; God is not giving up on you ; and YOU BETTER NOT GIVE UP ON YOU!"

The decision to have God in my life turned out to be the best choice I ever made. I am still reaping the benefits of my choice. While I was in prison God revealed to me that I had a talent I never knew I had. God gave me the gift of drawing. I used to think I was self taught because I never had formal training, but today I know that I am God Taught because He is the one who gave me the talent to draw. God continues to teach me everyday.

At that moment I understood I couldn't keep doing things the way I had done them. I knew I had to have help, and I turned to God. I wept and prayed with all my heart. God revealed to me that life is like running a company. Most companies aren't run by one person. He showed me that if I continued to run my life by myself, I would eventually go belly up. My life needed a partner, so I chose to let God run my life - my "company".

I was paroled in 2006, and since that time I have been speaking for Victim's Impact Panel of Mother's Against Drink Driving monthly. I participated in Palmer High School's production of " Shattered Dreams", and I speak to youth groups as often as I can.

I still don't always make the best choices in life, but I am now able to learn from them and make better choices. My favorite Scripture is Philippians 3:12-14. A portion of it says " I will continue to run the race with God's help and choose to NEVER GIVE UP."