Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification Read Online Free PDF Page B

attend the funeral — I couldn’t. I didn’t want to remember him that way. In his last days, my grandfather came to Jesus, after staying as far away as he possibly could for his entire life. Now I understand that he did this for one reason only
    — to assure himself that he would one day see his Anna again.
    I’m going to point out certain instances in my life where, now that I’ve been saved by Jesus Christ, I can clearly see that God was present.
    Unfortunately, having been blind to his light at the time, I just couldn’t see the grace he was desperately trying to extend.
    The first instance took place at the time of the unexpected death of my grandmother. As I said here, for as long as I could remember, it was a ritual that every Sunday was spent visiting with my grandparents. The ratio of them coming to our house, compared to our going to theirs, was 25/75. They were the elders, so out of respect you just went there more often. As I got older, when my grandparents would visit I was usually off doing something else. With my teens came girls, cars, freedom and 19
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    Vince Russo
    Elvis Costello. It pains me to say this now, but I was beginning to out-grow them.
    However, I can remember vividly that last weekend prior to Nana’s passing. That Sunday, my grandparents showed up unexpectedly. On this occasion, for some reason, I can remember being especially happy to see them. At the same time, I was overcome with a feeling that I should stay home and spend some time with them. That Sunday I enjoyed the company of my grandparents and did little else. A few days later, my grandmother was dead; I would never see her on this earth again.
    I now know it was God’s voice that spoke to me that day. In his special way he was telling me what was to come that week, and his message blessed me with more time with my beloved Nana. Though at that time I didn’t understand what I do now, and I wasn’t ready to accept God into my life, I did realize one extremely important thing — that we should savor every minute, every second with the ones we love. You never know when God will take those whom you cherish the most. It is imperative to treat your loved ones like it’s the last time you’ll see them — every time you see them. Better yet, treat everybody that way. Everyone you come across in your everyday life, they are all God’s children, and that’s exactly how they should be treated. Just stop for one second and try to visualize what a world like that would be like; a world where we treated each other with love, dignity, respect, honor, forgiveness and grace.
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    Chapter 4
    HANDSOME JIMMY
    AND LUCIOUS JOHNNY
    Now that I’ve established that those I shared my house with were a few partridges short of a family, it will seem inevitable that I would be forced to rely on some sort of vice to escape the everyday madness.
    Like a lot of kids, I chose television. From as far back as I can remember I was raised on, and by, the boob tube. Some of my fondest memories involve sitting on the couch with my dad and just becoming a part of Yogi Bear’s world. Man, I loved that bear, but I have to admit, I was never a big fan of his sidekick, Boo Boo. Always whin-ing, crying and complaining about something, always in that high-pitched, Fran Drescher voice, “But Yogi, what if Ranger Smith finds out?” Do you think that for one minute Yogi cared about Ranger Smith? Yogi owned Smith. It was all about getting that illusive pic-i-nic basket, by any means necessary. You’ve got to respect that.
    Even at the age of five I was taken with an animated mammal simply because he was sticking it to authority.
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    Vince Russo
    But then Yogi got soft.
    Enter Cindy Bear. Southern twang, frilly umbrella — Jellystone Park would never be the same. And Yogi went gaga over her. Suddenly he was no longer chasing the basket, but like every