"My colleague Lynn Reddick relates a story from a friend of his, gospel singer Candy Hemphill Christmas. It's about a childhood friend of hers named Bobby:
Over the years he became rebellious as anger, bitterness, and resentment took root in his life - against God, his parents, and his church. His life became consumed with drugs as he gradually became shackled with addictions.
One day Bobby disappeared. His brokenhearted parents didn't know if he killed himself with an overdose or was murdered by a drug gang. For two years they didn't hear anything from their son, not one phone call or letter.
He simply vanished.
Bobby's dad felt the crushing grip of months of pent-up frustration and pain while driving on the outskirtsof the Arkansas city where he lived. He pulled his car off on the side of the road, got out and walked off some distance from the highway. He pointed his finger towards the north and yelled with all his might, "BOBBY, COME HOME!" Turning to the south, he shouted in the wind, "BOBBY COME HOME!". To the east and west, the same words.
Two days later, this dad heard a knock at the door. There stood Bobby. Bobby was home.
It didn't take long before his dad asked, "Son, what brought you home?"
"Dad," Bobby said, "I was sitting on the front porch of an old shack on the edge of the desert in Arizona, stoned out of my mind. A wind started blowing and suddenly grew stronger. Dad, I could have sworn that I heard your voice in the wind, BOBBY, COME HOME! And Dad, I got here just as fast as I could." [end quote]
Proverbs 18:21 "Life and death are in the power of the tongue."
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