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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hotel/Motel (09/12/05)
Graham was an amazing man for our church. He was a faithful friend, a loyal husband to his wife Drena, a great Dad and played a very active role in our church’s life. To everyone around, it seemed like Graham really did have life on track. He had worked hard at his job and was a great success and his family had just turned out to be such a special bunch. He was one of those guys that you aspired to be like.

The whole church family were shocked to the core when they found out that Graham had been admitted to a mental hospital as a result of a nervous breakdown. At first, we all thought that our Pastor had made a mistake in his intimations. It soon became apparent though that depression had been a long term problem for Graham, perhaps even tracing right back to his childhood.

Although some were reluctant in visiting Graham because they felt they did not have the words to say, a small minority were faithful in praying for him and just sitting with him. His mind didn’t allow him to pray anymore which broke his heart. Sometimes he would get so upset the he would just pace the floors back and forth. We used to go to his house and share the words of the song ‘Faithful One, so unchanging’ with him and it seemed like the only words which could bring peace to his mind.

As time went on, Graham seemed to start to return to his formal self and we were all so encouraged that he had come through with the help of the Lord. We stopped asking how he was doing health wise, expecting that he would be getting on just fine.

Two weeks ago, Graham left for work in the morning, taking his anti-depressants with him. As he drove along the motorway, his mind led him to a small motel in the middle of no-where. He had spent many a lonely night in motels all over the country. He felt he needed to be in a place that separated him from the world all around him. This is a world that he couldn’t begin to comprehend any more and that just seemed so dark.

He drove his car into the parking lot. He checked into a room. As he sat on his bed he cried out to the Lord he felt had abandoned him. It had been months since he felt any communication with the living Lord. He took his tablets one by one until the packet was empty.

Drena came home from work that night to discover that her husband had left a note for her at the front door. Often Graham would come home late for work due to appointments with clients and he would regularly write a little note to greet Drena when she arrived home.

This time Drena felt in her heart that the very nature of this note was very different. As she read it, her heart sank and a sense of absolute fear and desperation crept over her whole body. She immediately called friends, relatives and neighbours trying to grasp any idea of where her husband might be.

It was around 8pm when the pastor called. Graham had been found in the remote motel after someone saw his body lying on the floor of his room through his window. When the ambulance arrived, Graham seemed to have very little chance of surviving. The overdose of medication had caused severe heart problems. He was taken to the local hospital in the back of a car belonging to the man who had found him.

At his funeral, we were able to thank the Lord for all that He had given to us in Graham. Despite his illness, Graham had realised that his Lord was and is indeed faithful. Even in that motel room, in the loneliest places, God was reaching for him.

As depression becomes more and more prevalent in our world, we would do well in thinking about the support structures and other vital resources to insure that no man or woman gets to that point when they feel absolutely alone.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
09/19/05
This is sad and true, and you end with a lesson that needs to be spoken. Work a little bit on punctuation and sentence structure, and you'll have a piece publishable, perhaps in a denominational magazine.
B Brenton
09/22/05
I get a spooky feel when reading this. Good atmosphere and a different way of telling the story. Thanks for enthralling me!
Alexandra Wilkin
09/22/05
A personel story, my heart goes out the family of Grahem. These are often the hardest to write but you have done wonderfully well. With a little polish, this should be offered to a wider audience. Sometimes we are too quick to judge those who end their own lives without fully understanding the very real pain that such people are in. God bless you for sharing this.