By Mike Rallo, Spiritual Life Director
Fear – Elroy, in his story, said it was one of the main motivations that got him started on a pathway to drugs. Fear to fit in. Fear to face the areas in our lives that we run from. Fear is one of, or even, the most, powerful emotion we can feel as human beings.
At the Mission, we break fear down into several acrostics.
False Evidence Appearing Real is one. In Elroy’s case, the evidence he had in the feeling of using, felt like it put him at ease, but it was a lie. He had to see it as the lie it is.
Another is Forget Everything and Run. Many people, like Elroy, have pain and run away from it in substance abuse. The feelings are numbed, but do not go away until we face them.
So the last is Face Every Adversity Resiliantly. That is what Elroy has done and is doing in his program. It is hard to face the past, the pain and the mistakes. We believe that when Jesus said to get on the narrow path that leads to life, He was speaking of the process that Elroy is on. That process, as Elroy found out, is going through the fear that cripples so easily and seeing the One who overcame death and set us free.