Purpose

Two weeks ago after posting the story of my brothers' journey through addiction here, Kyle received a call from an old friend who now coaches for Walnut Grove High School asking us to come speak to 7-12th graders. 

The first day I heard a lot of brotherly teasing

"you got us into this", 

"this is all because of your blog", 

"Thanks a lot, Gert".

But we know that this was not because of me.  

The idea for the post about my brothers occurred during a sermon.   

My words were not my own. 

And that assembly, that was planned even before the idea.

Thanks and glory to God.

So, we have spent the last two weeks meeting and discussing our stories. 

Looking back to a time that we have all been trying to move forward from for the past 5 years.

And we prayed.  

Prayed that God would lead us.  

Prayed that God would inspire our words.  

Prayed with grateful and humble hearts. 

Wednesday we spoke to 130 young adults with utter transparency.  

And nerves. There were nerves. :)

"Hi, I'm Katelyn and I'm their sister.  We are not here to scare you. We are here to share our stories.

Maybe you don't like rules, maybe you don't like authority and consequences don't matter to you. Maybe you're like Kyle.

Maybe you are a popular athlete that everyone loves, and you are fooling everyone.

Maybe you're like Keith.

Or maybe someone you know, someone you love, someone you look up to is a drug addict.

Maybe you're like me. 

Maybe one of our stories can change yours."

"When I was faced with going to treatment or losing my son, I thought I would go to treatment and get everyone off my back. I wasn't going to quit. But somewhere in that 30 days something changed. 

My brother called me, he said he was going to be home the day after me and if I could just hold on for a day, we would do this together."

"Who here is going to be a drug addict? 

Yeah, I didn't think so either. 

But the decisions I made, made it impossible for me to be anything else."

"I loved high school. I had fun. I drank and smoked weed on the weekends with my friends.  I was entitled to have fun because I was young." 

"Drugs took away my love for bull riding, it took away my nerve and my passion."

"Our story is about meth, but we are talking to you about drinking and marijuana. Where it all started."

"What made it even harder was knowing their hearts.  I know that Kyle has the biggest heart, every Thanksgiving he takes a meal to a widow who lives alone. I know the depths of Keith's talents and intelligence. I know their potential and saw their life playing out it a completely different way. 

It was heartbreaking to watch."

"Last week we celebrated 5 years of sobriety for Keith, and Kyle will follow in April. 

They represent a small percentage of those who have that first fateful thought "it can't happen to me". 

They are the exception NOT the rule.  

And that is why we are so thankful to be here talking to you today."

God chooses unlikely vessels.  He equips them. He goes with them.