On Christmas Eve I decided to drive to Mandeville and conduct a group meeting at the Fontainebleau Treatment Center. It wasn’t one of my regular scheduled weekly sessions, but I decided to make a special trip to spend some time with a group of men away from home while dealing with their addiction.  

The group was small, having only 13 in attendance. We sat in a circle, and I shared that this Christmas could possibly be the one that they will remember for a long time as one of their best. They agreed.  

I asked the following questions and gave each one a chance to respond:

• What was your most memorable Christmas?    

• What is your best character asset?  

• What is the one character defect you would like to change?  

• What do you fear the most?

• If you had one wish, what would it be?

One young man said his greatest fear was death and his wish was that his brother was still alive. “What happened?” I asked. “He died of a drug overdose a year ago,” he responded. “Were you using drugs at the time?” I asked. With a guilty spirit, he answered, “Yes.” He then added, “I did stay clean for almost a year and then slipped again.”

Trying to be as tactful as I could, I asked, “You mean you turned to the thing that killed your brother hoping to kill the pain of your brother’s death?” I could feel the sorrow and also the love he had for his brother.  

After a few of the others shared, one of the older men in the group addressed his remarks to the hurting young man. He said, “All the

love you have stored up for your deceased brother could be used in a positive way to share with others who are hurting because of their past mistakes.” I thought that was the high point of our Christmas Eve session.

In closing, I said, “What a better time to start a new life than at Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” I gave each man a chance to pick someone in the group and give them an encouraging word. They all participated in a positive way. We prayed as we closed and wished each other “Merry Christmas.”

As I prepared to leave, one young man asked if he could walk me to the door. As we approached the exit, he said, while holding back tears, “I want to know God better!” I shared about being born again, and we prayed for God to forgive him of his past and for Jesus to come into his heart and be the Lord of his life. He wept as I hugged him, and we prayed that God would give him the strength to stay drug free and the wisdom to love and serve Him the rest of his life.

The special unscheduled trip ended up to be a very special night.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-652-8477, or email hkeller@comcast.net.