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Pathology is, “the science of the causes and effects of diseases.” I’m thinking of pathology here in terms of psychology, in the whys and wherefores of human behavior, especially dysfunction and what makes us tick.

All in good humor here, but I myself grew up in this crazy, chaotic, emotional trap, that I really had to chew my way out of for the first 20 years of my life. It wasn’t just in my family, but in friends too, addiction, depression, violence, suicides. I come from a dark, miserable, other side of the tracks.

People’s pathology, cause and effect, were like riddles I tried to understand so I could solve them, like perhaps if we understood what leads to all this human misery, we could figure out how to prevent it. I was always such a rescuer, always trying to save the whole world…….often from itself.

I wound up with a lot of survivor’s guilt, just trying to sort it all out. Psychology just kept leading me to a dead-end. We focus so much on disease, dis-ease, what is wrong with people, rather than what is right with them, always with this idea that they have no choice, that they are simply mindless victims of their own pathology. They can’t help it. They don’t know better. They’re all just good people who do bad things.

My family, my friends, those who are still alive, have suffered a great deal, addictions, brokenness, assorted afflictions. Many times I have thought, “but for the grace of God, there go I.”  That should be me and I know it. But I also know, “the grace of God” is not just about His benevolence and His protection, it is also about making a conscious decision to receive Him as a Savior. It is about turning to Him over and over again when life gets too crazy and too dark, and it is about resting at His feet and allowing Him to teach you.

I don’t wish to imply that nothing bad ever happens to you when you follow Jesus Christ, but I can say without a doubt that the reason why I am whole and reasonably intact today, comes directly from having made a personal choice to receive Jesus Christ and from constantly availing myself of His healing grace.

I grieve for those who are all swallowed up in the world’s darkness, but I have to say, you have a choice and you have a Savior available.

aslan