The phone rang at 10:09 Sunday night November 16th, Mitch and I look at each other wondering who could be calling so late. I walk over to my phone and see that it’s my Aunt Karla, and instantly I knew it wasn’t good news. Hearing her voice confirmed my fear; she could barely speak through her sorrow as she told me that her son Justin had died. Unfortunately because of his life choices, it was an overdose of drugs. The hope we’ve kept lit for him to come out of the world of drugs, instantly went dark.
Justin was the cool one when we were kids, he had an Atari, the adoration of our Grandparents and the older cousins always included him in their outings. It’s been said he had the world by the tail, especially in sports, as he was a natural athlete. When I was 7 my family moved to the other side of the state, but through the years I would hear how great he was doing in school and later that he had a full college scholarship for football. Then it happened, the drugs… I don’t know who started him on them, when it really began, or for how long it had been happening, but his addiction became bigger than his life and he quit college. So began the long decent into the rabbit hole, time in prison, family interventions, marriage to an addict, rehab and relapses resulting in an untimely death. He leaves behind a little boy, 5 years old already being raised by Karla. If only he feared drugs, avoided people who did them and said NO. where would he be now? He was the one with all the potential, the good looks, the world was his oyster….. I know in life it’s all about choices, I just wish he’d made different ones.
I am going to give you a horrific visual that may deter someone from ever taking drugs in the first place. Addicts are like the coyote that is lured in by man, blood poured onto and around a razor to attract the animal. When the coyote starts licking up the blood he begins to cuts his own tongue on the razor, not realizing its his own blood he keeps licking and bleeds to death, all from that first taste of blood. Never try it to begin with, be afraid, very afraid! This story about the coyote has haunted me since the first time I heard it, it’s disturbing, graphic and inhumane but to get the point across, so too are drugs.
Hopefully Justin’s death will save someone else life, prompt them to get help and enjoy their life not yet lived. It is NEVER to late.
The sorrow a mother must feel to know her son is lost in the world of drugs, unable to make them choose a different direction has to be a suffering beyond explanation. Only when the Lord has taken him home can she feel a strange sense of peace, knowing that no longer will she have to worry. May his son Tristan have his father’s strengths and good qualities, there were many.
If you would like to share your condolences please go to Advantage Aurora Chase Chapel and sign the guest book.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Goin' Road Trippin' 