Father's Day Message For Fathers And Sons

Christians who are not willing to make themselves vulnerable to being used and abused by the lost will never help anyone find Christ as their Savior. What if this were you... or your son?

About thirty years ago, we had a fine Christian family in the church I pastored, in Tallahassee, Florida, who had a young son whose name was Christopher. This son of a Christian Mom and Dad had a very good beginning. After all these years, I am still in contact with Christopher's Dad, who recently put me in touch with his wayward son, now in the Leon County Jail in Tallahassee, FL. I cannot speak to the reasons or Satanic forces which wrecked Christopher's life... 
up to this point. There are thousands of possibilities, but all trace back to the lusts of the flesh, which we are all confronted with every day of our lives. But far more important than where the blame lies is where the remedy arises, and there is only one remedy for sin. Of all of the thousands of sins of the flesh, there is just that one healing cure for them all... Jesus Christ, God's only Son, whom He sacrificed on the altar of the old rugged cross, to cover every single sin we might be guilty of. Cleansing from our sins is simply accomplished by our repenting and receiving forgiveness by God's grace and through our faith in Christ. When that happens to us, we become "carriers of Christ" in our hearts and lives. That is what the name Christopher means. It is from the Late Greek name  Χριστοφορος (Christophoros) meaning "bearing CHRIST", derived from Χριστος (Christos) combined with φερω (phero) "to bear, to carry". Early Christians used it as a metaphorical name, expressing that they carried Christ in their hearts.

This being Father's Day weekend, and considering the aching hearts of Christopher's Father and Mother, and of our Heavenly Father, I want to ask all of my readers to pray with me for Christopher to yield himself to Christ and live up to his Christian name and to "bear Christ" in his heart for the rest of his life. So Christopher, Show the world what Christ can easily do in a repentant and receptive heart. God is ready to help you if you will sincerely seek Him, receive Him and live for Him. I and my many friends who read this are praying for you. 

Here, with his permission, is Christopher's Testimony in his own words:

My name is Christopher Show. I was born in Gainesville, Florida. We moved around a lot when I was young, and moved to Tallahassee, Florida when I was nine. I grew up in a deeply religious home. We went to church every Wednesday and Sunday. I even went to a Christian School eighth through tenth grades. I started messing around with pot and alcohol in the tenth grade. Then, in the eleventh grade, I was skipping more than going to school. I still managed to pass because I had so many credits. In the twelfth grade, I was going to a magnet school called SAIL, a great high school, and I did better. SAIL has more personalized teaching and smaller classes. I really enjoyed SAIL and then joined the Navy so I didn't party as much. When I graduated in '92' I went straight into the Navy. When I graduated from recruit training, I was sent to Class "A" School for technical training ... but things went down hill again. You only had to be eighteen to drink on base, so I took full advantage of it. When I failed "A" School, I was sent, as a seaman, on a ship in San Diego, Calif. I ended up there doing too much partying and was kicked out for a failed drug test.

I moved back to Tallahassee in '94' and continued drinking ... but nothing harder. In '96' I had a daughter and her mother and I moved to her home in the U.S. Virgin Islands. That was a fun experience until I messed that up with drinking. Her dad told me to get out and I lost any control over my daughter. 

I then got in with the wrong crowd again and started using cocaine and kept drinking. I was working to support my habit and four more years passed before I moved back to Tallahassee in 2000, where the partying continued. In 2003 I got married and the partying got worse. I wasn't able to support our habit by working, so we started lying and stealing to get what we wanted. We were then constantly moving around from place to place, using crack cocaine, and couldn't keep a job. So we became homeless... which provided more money for partying, when we got it, because we had no bills to pay.

In 2015 I finally got into real trouble when I got into a physical altercation with my wife and ended up in jail. When I got out, we continued to party. I started lying at work and in 2015 I went to jail for grand theft, fraud, and forgery. I did three months in jail and got probation. I didn't abide by the probation rules and ended back in jail two months later on a vop (violation of probation) and ended up with a felony drug probation with a curfew. That lasted about two weeks before I messed that up too. So I was sent back to jail, this time for 11/29 (eleven months and twenty-nine days).  

Now, finally, I know I must change my life. I have asked the Lord back into my life and have asked the forgiveness of my parents for all the stupid things I've done and am currently trying to live a better Christian life. I am taking Anger Management and Narcotics Abuse classes so that when I get out, and with the Lord's help, I won't have to go through this again. I know it's not going to be easy. I have some difficult choices to make to live a healthy more productive life, These decisions have been a long time coming, but with the Lord's help, and prayer, I can become the man my parents raised me to be. 
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Christopher, don't look back, don't quit, but keep your eyes and heart on Jesus. You have confessed your faults and sins here. We are praying for you and God has provided the remedy for your healing.  "Christ in you the hope of glory" Col.1:27.

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16.