Copy of Finding Buck

Did you ever cross paths with someone who was both loveable and exasperating at the same time? Then you will understand in our early days, we identified with Charles Dickens’ statement, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

As young newlyweds our occupation involved ministry, and in fulfilling it, we were alert to helping those in need. Buck certainly qualified.

He lived just down the street. And he could try every last ounce of our patience.

He sometimes came to church inebriated. One day Buck told my husband he wanted to get up on the platform sometime and sing a special song. He had it all planned.

“I’ll walk up the aisle as I start singing,” he said, “and I’ll have a blond on one side and a brunette on the other. The spotlight will be on me.” Yes, he wanted to be in the spotlight.

Fortunately, there were no openings for a drunken lead singer and his two lady friends, who probably existed in his imagination.

My husband would walk to Buck’s little house to see that he had food to eat. If we hadn’t seen him for a few days, we knew he would be passed out in his house, dead-drunk. King Alcohol had taken hold of the man and ruined whatever usefulness he might have had.

Sometimes my husband cleaned Buck’s house and tried to persuade him to change his ways. At least once, when on a drinking spree, our friend chased my husband out of his house with a butcher knife. He apologized the next day, still unwilling to admit he had a problem.

Buck had his chance one Sunday to make peace with God.

Standing with the rest of the congregation at the close of a church service, he trembled, white knuckles gripping the back of the seat in front of him. He had to walk only a dozen steps to the front of the church and admit he needed help. God was speaking to his mind and heart in a persuasive way. Unfortunately, our friend chose to turn away from the only One who could offer a permanent solution.

One day God impressed upon us that Buck highly valued the prayers of his mother. Sitting in Buck’s living room my husband said, “Do you think your mother would say you're ready for heaven?”

Buck hung his head, his bravado gone. He got down on his knees and asked God to forgive him for sinning against Christ’s sacrifice.

So, how did his life end? It was a mystery. Buck’s elderly sister called several days later, when my husband was away on business. She asked me to go to his house and see if I could get him to answer his door, because he hadn’t answered his phone that week.

It’s the mercy of God that his door was locked, and I couldn’t get in. I was expecting a baby, and the shock of what I would have seen would have been traumatic.

When the police finally broke down the door, they found the lifeless body of our friend lying on the floor beside his bed, amazingly clean at last. A mother’s prayers—and God’s extreme mercy-- had followed Buck all the way to the end of his wasted life.

Eternity—it’s only a breath away.

What about you? Know anyone whom God saved in answer to a loved-one's prayers? Tell us about it below.