WILL CRACK DEATHS WAKE US UP?

On Sunday, April 15, I was waiting at church for a long-time friend,
who at 39 was lovely and sparkling with life. She had photos from my
60th birthday party she was going to give me, as she said by phone a
couple of days earlier, but she never showed up.

On Monday morning I got the call that she had died between Saturday
night and Sunday morning from a reaction to crack cocaine, leaving her
adorable 5-year old son, her mother, and many of her friends stunned,
shocked, and angry.

We all hear how great Madison is, in terms of being a great place to
live, and indeed it is a beautiful city. But it has an ever-increasing
dark side.

This woman had made peace with God some years ago, but through her own
bad choices, temptations, and associating with the wrong people, had
trouble fighting off those demons of the past and present that kept
her from a more radical break from the drug scene.

When she was active in church, she was the happiest any of us who knew
her had ever seen her. Unfortunately, the people from church weren't
the only people trying to build relationships with this caring,
generous, forgiving person, who also had a restless fun-loving side.
In Madison it is increasingly easy to come into drugs of any kind.
Some of the street people even refer to Madison as "Little Chicago."

Last week, another pastor, the woman's family, her many friends and I
had the funeral and buried this dear sister in Christ, who left this
planet early due to this weakness of hers fed by unscrupulous people
with an evil agenda to make money off other people's weaknesses. For
me, it was the toughest eulogy I ever gave as a pastor.

These drug dealers sell their "high" that for many leads to early
deaths. It is not a high at all, but a death trip, or a "time-bomb"
in one's body and soul.

When are we going to awaken to the darkness in our midst? When are we
going to become mad enough to ask our leaders and protectors to step
up their efforts to get these murderers off the streets.

I hope that Madison, instead of trying to keep its image, will face
the reality that it has a big drug problem and develops a plan that
will work, so that these young deaths will not be in vain.

And if you are a user, stop now! You don't have to be captive to the
lies that your body is trying to tell you for that "high." Life is a
better "high," especially if we can do it together.