I Overcame, So Can You
A tale of salvation.
Sinful and vile are words that best describe the life I have led, the things I have done. The lines I have crossed and the bridges I have burnt for no other reason but to see how brightly they burn. Mistakes I made which were not mistakes at all, but desperate attempts to steal a laugh or some other fleeting pleasure. Justified by the falling of the good and righteous before my eyes, I sought no amendments for the wrongs I had brought to life. Slowly, the beauty of day reduced to the screams of tortured people.
I was a man with no God, no belief and no laws, walking the earth with neither purpose nor responsibility, but a desperate attempt to feed my demanding desires. Free as all might have seemed, I was trapped in the cold yet homely grip of the dark. Void as it beckons to the unsuspecting soul, the dark is crawling with laws more binding than glue. Laws that force one to keep to the dark and never once look to the light yonder.
I walked therein, seeking freedom beyond measure, yet hoping for light’s kiss. But a heart must be pure and sure, light or dark, no middle ground. I received daily lashes of regret followed by sensations sensual and pleasurable that buried my will to claim the light. Life, reality itself was my own prison and despite the millions of faces that tread the face of the earth, I was in solitary confinement. My warden was the incessant flow of memories that hunted me, day in, day out. Always.
For a man that chose to live free, the collar around my neck was beginning to choke the life out of my mortal frame. Breathing quickly became rather difficult, for truths grew rarer with every passing day. I needed a flicker of light, a dream of hope, a glimpse of the divine, for I knew the divine was. And without warning or practice, but desire pouring out of a heart of need, I prayed to a God I never knew.
That I breathe and acknowledge the beauty of this earth is sufficient reason to do one more piece of good. To touch one more life in the same way mine was touched and yanked from the grip of the enticingly comfortable darkness. My life, free as it is, is not a result of deeds and belief or anything else that I did, but of grace undeserved. For in the darkest hours of my days, a hand reached out to save, a voice that preached salvation. Luckily, my heart was fertile, and my mind was in need. Now, here I am, far from perfect but making the journey still.
Truth is I crave the dark still, its pleasures and comfort. But foolish is he who sees the light and runs to the dark. I face my demons in single combat, and we do battle on a daily basis. Memories still come to mind, reminding and threatening. Still, I fight on, for I live in the present and look on to the future with a heart of hope. To the past, I look on with pride for I overcame.
I am without a collar for I choose to stay free from the grasp of the past, its pleasures and its desires. The life I once led and all that I could have been in this world. But because I know, I understand that this world is a path to another, were eternity abides.
So, I cling to that life-giving Word, the saving Word that thundered through my darkness and cleared a path through the dark for me. Now, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.
I survived, I overcame, I made it out. So can you.
