Serial killer?

I walked into the room and it was empty except for about a half dozen chairs positioned in a semi-circle. All of the chairs were facing a singular chair in the middle. I was told by my guard to sit in the chair in the middle. In a few moments a group of men came in and I mused to myself, “Welcome to the nerd convention”. A group of scholarly looking men came in wearing white coats, thick glasses, and all seemed to be going bald with just enough hair to do an ineffective comb over. The senior nerd asked if I was ready to get started and I shook my head affirmatively. These men were all psychiatrists and the purpose of the meeting was to examine me to see if I was fit to stay in the military. I had been in some serious trouble and had spent more time in the stockade than active duty and it had all come down to this.

They asked me all kinds of questions about my life, my thoughts, my goals and aspirations. After grilling me for an hour or so, they departed to caucus among themselves. I waited with my guard in silence. Finally the senior nerd returned and told me that they had concluded that I was a sociopath and they would be recommending that I be administratively discharged from the service. That sounded good to me as I hated being in the military and taking orders. Oddly I found out later that they recommended that I be discharged under honorable conditions and I ended up eluding serving more time in the stockade. I still wonder about that one, I certainly had not served honorably, but I suppose since I was whacko they decided to cut me some slack.

I did not know what a sociopath was and when I asked the top shrink, he told me that I did not have any regard for the laws and mores of society and that I had no sign of a conscience and consequently would do anything I wanted even if it was against the law or wrong, (no matter how heinous society might think it was). Later I read that many serial killers were sociopaths Hmmm. I was bitter, seemed to like to fight and was considered mean, and one of my favorite expressions was that I wished that “I” had been born dead, but “serial killer” seemed a little of a stretch.

I did not have money to seek therapy and to be honest, after looking at those guys and listening to them for an hour and a half; I thought that they were crazier than I was and I would not have done it if I had been loaded with money. After leaving the military true to their prediction, I spiraled down to the very bottom of humanity. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol and completely without God. One day I found myself in Parrish Prison in New Orleans. Due to overcrowding I was placed in a large cell called a tier with forty of society’s sickest men; sociopaths all, no doubt. They were either serving time, or awaiting trial for a host of crimes including armed robbery, rape, and even murder. The most revered prisoners were the ones who had committed murder or bank robbery. Sociopaths? I fit right in and I guess those shrinks knew what they were talking about; or did they?

Not long after getting out of prison, I met Jesus Christ and discovered that God had a different idea about me. In fact He demonstrated that no matter what the world’s experts might think and no matter how broken my life could have been He could change my life. It reminds me of when Humpty dumpty got broken into a million little pieces and “all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again”; they should have called upon the name of the Lord.

Soon after accepting Christ as my Savior, God led me to a wonderful wife, and blessed me with wonderful children, daughters in law, and grandchildren. He blessed me with stability, peace, and eventually joy often in spite of myself. He led me to a successful career whereby I went on to found thirteen successful businesses and now national publications and media label me a “serial entrepreneur” and not a serial killer. God led me away from drugs, alcohol, crime, bitterness and hopelessness. God had a purpose for my life and He transformed it to serve His purpose.

Only God could have changed me so dramatically. I should be in prison, dead, or muttering to myself in a psyche ward somewhere. Do not ever think that you or someone that you know is too far gone for our mighty God to transform into a new creature. My story is ample proof that no one is too far gone, and there is no job too big for our God to successfully complete.

God offers hope where there is no hope. This includes all of those little problems that you are facing today. I say little because they are little to God. He loves you and will put your life back together just as He did mine. Our job is easy; turn our problems over to the Lord. All we have to do is have faith that He will deliver on His promises and patiently work with Him as He transforms us. Like an ugly caterpillar you can be transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Put your faith in God today won’t you?

Phil. 3:19
And my God shall supply all
your need according to His riches in
glory by Jesus Christ.