“I Can Handle It”

“What does Jeff’s death mean to me? Well, some kids will probably stop dropping flippies for awhile. I mean, you got to watch that stuff and know what you’re getting so you don’t take some with too much rat poison in it. Me, I know what I am doing; I can handle it.”

This was the answer to a question asked of one of Jeff Stewart’s friends who came to the cemetery, with other barefooted friends, who were clutching wild flowers, to place on his grave. Jeff Stewart was the son of a Methodist preacher and had refused to listen to his parents. They had pled with him in tears to turn away from drugs. He had gotten into it through others’ influence, but when his parents tried to help him, he would generally say, “I can handle it.”

Jeff Stewart was a handsome boy, his mother had said, and a B student. He was only 17, but had died of an overdose of barbiturates on August 22, 1970, in a shack that he and his drug addicted friends had built on a side street in Hopewell, New York. In the midst of rock music he and his friends smoked marijuana and “dropped acid” (LSD) regularly.

At times Jeff wanted to get off drugs; he had told his mother that he wished he had never started taking drugs, was a little boy again, and could start life all over.

There is a struggle going on in the minds of every young teenager. At times he is a carefree person, but then at other times he tries to act grown-up, or feels that he knows what he should do and the path he should walk. These are difficult times in a teenager’s life. Influences from within and from without will cause him to decide upon his course. Parents see this indecision and they try to guide their teenagers in the right direction. The pastor, Sunday school teacher, and the young people’s leader are all interested in the teenagers and are trying to show them the right way. At times the teenager thinks his parents or other spiritual instructors are right, but the crowd at school, and often the teacher, use their influences to pull him the other way. Day after day he making decisions. The wrong influences seek to turn the teenager away from morality and God’s Word, but they do not give anything to take its place in his heart, or erase guilty feelings. Therefore he finds emptiness within, so is compelled to continue to seek something else to satisfy him. Then he is led deeper into grosser evils, trying to “handle” his inner longings.

Some might say, “But how do you know?” I know because I went through those years and I know the influences to which I was exposed. One time I wanted a certain thing, or would want to do a certain thing, but then later I didn’t like or want it. Some at school would present their ideas, and my parents and spiritual advisers presented their ideas. In my mind I was continually weighing out what was right or what I really wanted to do.

As we think of the young boy who died of continually taking drugs, and felt that he could “handle” his own life, we see how he chose to travel the wrong road. Even though his buddies saw what had happened to him they were so stuck on drugs that they, too, thought they could still “handle” their lives. What a mistake they are making, and I am sure you are convinced of that fact. None of us are able to handle our own lives. When we are born we have within our very nature a bent toward evil. That bent toward evil has to be curbed. God gave children parents because they needed help to face life and to curb that which was within them that would lead them to the wrong path. Children and teenagers should recognize this fact and listen to them. Even if you do not want to admit it, you can’t handle your own life without the aid of your parents. Furthermore you can’t handle your life and walk the right path without God’s help. The devil works through the influences of others to lead you astray. Only through the power of God can the power of the devil be broken, the bent toward evil be destroyed, and you be able to do the right or choose the right path. Never feel that you can handle your own life. No man, woman, child, or teenager can handle his life or obey the Word of God, which teaches him the way to live in this life and be ready to die, without help from outside of himself.

In my early teen-age life there were two verses of Scripture that I had learned by memory which were a guide to me. One was, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right,”* (Ephesians 6:1) The other one was, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”* (John 3:16) The first one made me know that God would bless me if I obeyed my parents. Many times my idea of what they required wasn’t the thing that I wanted to do, but I obeyed.

Why? Because I loved Jesus. I was convinced that I was doomed for hell, but Jesus had loved me so much that He came to this world, lived, and died on the cross and arose again for my salvation. If it had not been for Jesus taking my sins and loving me so much I would be eternally lost. That was a great influence in my life and today I am very glad that I obeyed my parents and also let Jesus handle my life and lead me in a right direction.

When teenagers rebel they are headed for trouble, and, oh, what great trouble! Let us remember the young man who thought he could handle his life but had a tragic ending and was eternally lost. Dear grandson, remember the Bible has the answer to every problem, and Jesus will help you handle your life if you will let Him.

Two Italian boys of New York City were returning from a swim. They were each about fifteen years of age. Pietro had picked up a piece of copper wire and thought he would have a little fun with the third rail of the New York Central track, along which they were walking.

He poked away around the wooden covering of the rail, but nothing happened.

“That’s funny,” he said. “I guess I didn’t touch the right spot.” Then he pushed the point of the wire down underneath the covering.

There was a flash of blue flame and a shriek of pain as 11,000 volts of electricity shot through the wire. In a moment Pietro’s clothing was on fire and his hair and eyebrows were burned off. He tried to drop the wire, as it hissed and sputtered at white heat, but it wouldn’t let go. He tried to pull it away, but it stuck to the rail as if it were soldered there. The other boy tried to pull him away, but he was hurled to the ground with a terrific shock. Then the brave fellow threw his rubber coat around Pietro and pulled him loose.

Pietro started to run but fainted and fell. They took him to the hospital, and the doctor said, “One chance in a thousand to recover.”

The boys said they knew there was something dangerous about that rail. They had heard other people say so, but they didn’t think it would hurt to play around with it a little.

Just so, sin is dangerous. It scorches and burns and kills, like the live third rail. People know it, and yet they play around with sin. Many times there are signs near high voltage wires—Danger, Do Not Touch! God has put up some signs, too. In His Word He warns against the danger of sin. If we want to be safe and happy, we will heed these warnings.

A minister of Geneva, on a trip to Paris, one day fell into a conversation with a man who began to reason with him about Christianity. The minister answered every argument with a quotation from Scripture—not venturing a single personal remark or application. Every quotation his companion evaded or turned aside, only to be met by another passage.

The skeptic became enraged. “Don’t you see, I don’t believe your Bible! What’s the use of quoting it to me?” he shouted.

The minister’s reply was another thrust of the Sword of the Spirit, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”* (John 8:24)

Years passed. Then one morning the minister received a letter. Opening it he read, “You took the Sword of the Spirit and stabbed me through and through one day, and every time I tried to parry the blade and get you to use your hands, and not the Heavenly steel, you simply gave me another stab. You made me feel I was not fighting you, but God.” It was signed by the former skeptic in whom the “seed of the Word” had finally been mixed with faith.

Even as the natural seed changes soil into plants, so the living seed of the Word changes the character of the individual who comes in contact with it. For example, in the night of the Dark Ages when the Word of God was planted by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of chosen men, it brought forth the fruit of the Reformation. There was a rediscovery of the truth that salvation is not by ritual or works, but by faith in Jesus as our Savior.

My grandson, I will close these instructions to you, as well as to all who read them, with a prayer for each one. As a teenager I found that it paid to live for God. As a mother I found that God was there to help me in all the needs of life. And as a grandmother and a possible great-grandmother, I find great joy in living for God. It pays to put God first in our lives. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,”* (Matthew 6:33) is the safe way to live, because Jesus, our Lord and Master, who has all wisdom, has told us.

—Grandma Miles