CHOICES





This is a story about eight different people.  Their names are Joe, Mike, Leo, Fred, Judy,
Jack and his girlfriend.  Fred and Judy hung out together, and Joe, Mike, Bill and Leo were
the best of friends as well as working together at a fast food place.

It was Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, when they got the bad news that the place where
 they had all worked together for the past five years would not be opening again after the
holidays; it was going out of business.  The news was devastating to them; the owner felt
 bad and gave them a good bonus and paid them their wages through New Year’s.  After the
Christmas party they decided to go to the bar for a couple of beers and to shoot some pool.
 That is when they ran into Judy and Fred.  They knew them from the bar, but not very well;
 but well enough to know that they were just friends and not a couple.

Judy seemed to sense that they were down and asked them if they wanted to get high.  She had
 a friend that had some good rock cocaine for sale.  By that time they had already consumed
 a lot of beers and a few shots.  They looked at Judy. Thinking she was hot they all thought
 maybe one of them could score her.  They all agreed to go, even though they had an uneasy
feeling about it.  Jack was the name of a friend and he was one of the biggest dope dealers
 in town. 


When they arrived at his house, Jack was glad to see them.  Probably because Judy had called
 him and told him that they had a lot of money on them.  When Leo saw Jack, he got a very
bad feeling, and said “I am out of here”.  Jack asked “What is up with him?”  They said,
“I do not know.” Then Jack said, “Let’s party” and they started to smoke crack. 
In the meantime Leo decided to go to his friend, Jimmie’s house. Since it was on the way
home, he had to go by his house anyway.  He had known Jimmie from school and knew that
Jimmie was into Jesus and he wanted to know more about this man called Jesus.  As he walked
 by Jimmie’s house, he saw Jimmie on his way to a prayer meeting.

He asked Jimmie about Jesus and Jimmie told him how he had died for us and how he could
change our lives and give us a second chance to straighten out.  Leo listened very carefully
 that night and decided to follow Jesus and it changed his life.  He gave up drugs and
alcohol and decided to stop partying and began to go to church instead.  Meanwhile, back at
 the party at Jack’s house, everyone was high.  Jack, unknown to everyone except his
girlfriend, was a junkie and sold crack to support his habit.  Jack began to tell them about
 the greatest high you can get, called speed balls.  “What are speed balls?” they asked.

Jack told them it was a combination of cocaine and heroin shot up.  He asked them if they
wanted to try it.  By this time, they were so whacked they probably would have shot up Coca
 Cola.  They all agreed, so Jack got a set of works from the bedroom, some coke and some
heroin, and mixed it up. Then he proceeded to shoot it up.  They were now really whacked.
 Then the guys decided to have sex with Judy and Jack’s girlfriend, and the girls went along
 with it.  All of a sudden Judy started to OD and turned blue.  Jack had forgotten to
mention that speedballs can be a killer.

Paranoia takes over. Joe takes out his cell phone and dials 911. They get there too late and
 Judy dies.  Everyone starts to panic and begins to run and hide.  Then the cops come. Jack
and his girlfriend get busted first and charged with possession of heroin, crack cocaine,
needles, vicodin and pot.  They both have records and are looking at big prison time.  The
police find Fred hiding in the closet. They frisk him and find drugs and needles on him that
 he had stolen from Jack; also a knife that has an illegal size blade. 

He gets charged with possession of heroin, cocaine, needles, and possession of a dangerous
weapon.  He has a record and will get some time. Joe, Mike and Bill run down the back stairs
 and outside.  They are really whacked and paranoid. They see a car that someone had left
with the engine running, so they decide to get in and drive away.  Joe drives then hears a
police scanner and realizes that he has stolen a detective’s police car. They drive right
into a road block and get busted.  Joe does not have a driver’s license so they all get out
of the car and get frisked.  Joe has drugs and needles that he had stolen from Jack,
and Mike has the same stuff on him. In addition, a big surprise! Mike had stolen a gun from
 Jack’s house since they both have records, they are looking at time.

When Bill was frisked he was clean. This was the first time he had gotten  into trouble
so he got a suspended sentence with probation and community service. He never got into
trouble again.  That night, while this was all happening, Bill prayed and asked God to help
him. God answered his prayers.  The next day he gave his life to Jesus and started going to
 church and became a Deacon at Saint Daniel’s on the other side of town.  He also got a job
 working doing prison reform.

Ten years later Bill ran into Joe and Mike while doing some business at the prison.  They
had been in and out of the joint since this had happened.
They started talking and Bill asked them what had happened to Jack and his girl.  They told
 him that after Judy died it did a number on their heads.  Jack and Fred OD’d sometime later
 while they were shooting up speed balls.  As for Jack’s girl, she had died of Aids a few ye
ars ago.  They think that Jack had Hep. C because his girlfriend was also diagnosed with
Hep.C.  Both Joe and Mike were also infected with both diseases and close to death.  Bill
prayed with them and they both accepted Jesus into their hearts. They both died but had been
 forgiven for their sins and died in peace.  As for Bill, you may wonder why he did not
catch Aids or Hep.C.  If you ask him, he may tell you it must have been God’s mercy that
saved him that night when he asked for help.

“Whatever happened to Leo?” you might ask. But the story doesn’t end there. About a year
later God brought Leo and Bill together again at a Deacon’s conference.  Leo had also become
 a Deacon. They started to talk about that night and after they finished bringing each other
 up to date, they both realized it was because of God’s mercy and the fact that they had
made good choices.  In the end they had spared themselves a lot of problems.  Leo had chosen
 that night to leave and not go into Jack’s house.  Bill chose to ask Jesus for help at Jack
’s house. God’s mercy had probably saved both their lives.

They were very grateful to God and wanted to give something back.  But what could they give
 God who had everything?  So they prayed and asked God for wisdom and God spoke to them and
 said “Go after my lost sheep”.  They did not understand what that meant, so they kept
praying and God said the same thing again “Go after my lost sheep”.  What did He mean? Then
 it came to them that God wanted them to reach out to people who had made bad choices and
as a result had ruined their lives.  Who were these people?  They were street people, homeless
people, people in jail, drug addicts, alcoholics and hookers; what the world would call
 “losers”.


What they really were, were people that had made bad choices, victims of the war between
good and evil, POW’S (prisoners of war) and God was calling them to rescue them from the
Devil, but with His help, of course, because without it, it would be impossible.  The war
has been over for some time now. The Devil was cast out of Heaven with his army of dark
angels to earth where he started to terrorize humans.  Jesus came to earth to end the Devil’
s reign of terror and defeated him by dying on the cross.  Now the Devil has no power, but
he knows that man has a free will and can choose to follow good or evil.

The Devil would use this weapon of man’s free will to choose against him by getting man to
make bad choices. By doing this he could wreck their lives.  The Devil has done a great job
with this weapon. There are a lot of broken people out there that need to be fixed. And how
 do they get fixed? By asking Jesus for help and listening to his Holy Spirit and starting
to make good choices.  Where do we come in? We must help the angels by working with them. 
They fight evil in the spirit world and we fight evil in the material world by empowering
 the POW’S with the weapons they need to free themselves from the evil one.

We do this by telling them about Jesus, and by giving them the weapons they need to protect
 themselves; Bibles, Rosary beads, medals, crosses, spiritual books, and holy pictures. We
 also provide them with good advice like going to church and prayer meetings, and reading
good spiritual books like the Bible. We also tell them to stop making bad choices and to
make good choices instead.  Then and only then will they turn the tide of battle and break
free from the prisons they have put themselves in. Then they can join in the battle for soul
s here on earth.  Bill and Leo knew what Jesus wanted them to do.  They have started a group
 called” Knights of Light”.

They have opened with God’s help, their first shelter to help these POW’S.  They call it
 “God’s House of Light”.  They have a vision to start an army of light led by the Holy
Spirit and are looking for recruits to join them.  Can you become one?  Ask the Holy Spirit,
 He will tell you.




                                       The End