photo credit: AperturePriority
My speaking engagement at Naomi Elementary School’s Red Ribbon Week seemed to go well. The children appeared to respond to the message of, Just Getting Over Life’s Obstacles. The topic was to make right decisions against drugs. I shared the story about my cousin who made wrong decisions about drugs and was killed at the young age of 18. I also shared my dad’s struggles with Alcohol use and the hurdles our family had to get over because of the impact those wrong decisions created. I told them not to trust the TV Marketing where you see a lot of pretty girls ans sharp looking guys standing around a pool having fun drinking a few beers. The real stories of making wrong decisions about drugs and alcoohol are those we rarely see or hear of where there are broken homes, angry parents, divorce, being fired from work, power and water cut off, families being evicted from ther homes, innocent lives lost becasue of drunk drivers and the list goes on.
At the end of the conversation I allowed them to ask questions and I could tell that many in the room had connected with the challenges of my life story and they began to open up to share with me and ask for help. I was and remain touched by their innocence and personal struggles. I wish to God that I could take away their pain and help their lives to be filled with the joy that a young child deserves to have!
Well, we can pray and I do ask my Father in the name of His Son Jesus to protect these children, watch over them and give them safety, joy and peace. Also, may Christ’s love abide in their hearts. I pray that the words I shared with them will encourage them to make right decisions in life so that they can make it better for their children, for the lives that they interact with as they grow up and lastly, their community when they are grown!
I was proud to meet each and every one of them and trust they will do great things in this life!
Jumpin Jeff
