As is true in this...
Illustration
As is true in this text, some words in the proper context can help bring healing. Fourteen-year-old Marshall experienced that truth one evening as he concluded an extremely traumatic day. His parents had been called out of town early that morning to visit a critically-ill relative. When his friend, Jim, discovered that Marshall was without parental guidance for the day and maybe longer, he convinced Marshall to skip school for the day and have some fun together. Jim came over to Marshall's house and the two of them eventually scouted out the liquor cabinet. Neither of them had ever tasted it before, but they were feeling brave, so they took a few swallows and then some more.
Soon they were in a mood for wandering. On a walk downtown, Jim spotted a car with the key in the ignition. The two of them got in the car, started it, then proceeded to run the car over the curb, narrowly missed a young woman and her child and crashed into the front window of the bakery. Since Marshall's parents were out of town, he was placed by the police in a private holding cell at the police station until they could come home.
Hours later, Marshall sat in his lonely room listening to his father's footsteps coming down the station hall. He was not real eager to see his dad since he had broken just about every rule his father had ever established. He felt sadness and fear and guilt as his dad grew nearer. The doom opened and his father gazed upon tearful Marshall, slumped in the corner of the room afraid to say anything. And then in a gentle, but firm, voice, he asked, "Marshall, have I told you how much I love you?" And with that word of love, healing hugs began doing their miraculous work.
-- Thompson
Soon they were in a mood for wandering. On a walk downtown, Jim spotted a car with the key in the ignition. The two of them got in the car, started it, then proceeded to run the car over the curb, narrowly missed a young woman and her child and crashed into the front window of the bakery. Since Marshall's parents were out of town, he was placed by the police in a private holding cell at the police station until they could come home.
Hours later, Marshall sat in his lonely room listening to his father's footsteps coming down the station hall. He was not real eager to see his dad since he had broken just about every rule his father had ever established. He felt sadness and fear and guilt as his dad grew nearer. The doom opened and his father gazed upon tearful Marshall, slumped in the corner of the room afraid to say anything. And then in a gentle, but firm, voice, he asked, "Marshall, have I told you how much I love you?" And with that word of love, healing hugs began doing their miraculous work.
-- Thompson
