Doug had it made. He...
Illustration
Doug had it made. He was young (about thirty), white, single, and had a good steady job with the local power company. He drove a sharp new car and didn't have a care in the world. So it seemed.
One day he came in for counseling, filled with deep depression. He said he was about to quit his job and leave. He didn't know why, he didn't know where he would go. He just knew he had to get away.
It was discovered Doug was really a prisoner of the small town which he was raised and in which he still lived. "Little Dougie" had been a strange child while in school and had strange habits
that turned off his peers. After high school he lived at home and got a job in town. He couldn't afford to go to college, and his parents said he would just fail anyway, like he did most everything else. He was put down by his parents and put down by his community. He never got a date, he almost always stayed at home. "Little Dougie" never was allowed to grow up. Small towns can be cruel.
Doug was persuaded to join a small Bible study group at his church. They encouraged him to try a Christian computer-dating service. He met a young lady, living 175 miles away, in similar circumstances. Fortified with newfound self-confidence flowing from his support group of fellow struggling Christians, Doug went to meet, date, court, and eventually marry this young lady.
It's twenty years later, and Doug and his family live in the same town. He has a new life in a new land in the same old place.
One day he came in for counseling, filled with deep depression. He said he was about to quit his job and leave. He didn't know why, he didn't know where he would go. He just knew he had to get away.
It was discovered Doug was really a prisoner of the small town which he was raised and in which he still lived. "Little Dougie" had been a strange child while in school and had strange habits
that turned off his peers. After high school he lived at home and got a job in town. He couldn't afford to go to college, and his parents said he would just fail anyway, like he did most everything else. He was put down by his parents and put down by his community. He never got a date, he almost always stayed at home. "Little Dougie" never was allowed to grow up. Small towns can be cruel.
Doug was persuaded to join a small Bible study group at his church. They encouraged him to try a Christian computer-dating service. He met a young lady, living 175 miles away, in similar circumstances. Fortified with newfound self-confidence flowing from his support group of fellow struggling Christians, Doug went to meet, date, court, and eventually marry this young lady.
It's twenty years later, and Doug and his family live in the same town. He has a new life in a new land in the same old place.
