Not just breathe.  Really live.  Forever.  I'm talking about having the best from here on out.

   It happened to me.  I didn't have to be perfect or do enough right things.  I just met this guy and he did it for me.  Actually he adopted me.

    I had no true father, I was deep in debt, I was 19 years old.  I was in jail.  It doesn't matter what I did.  I was guilty and my days were numbered.  This man came into my cell one day.  I don't know how he got in.  When I met this guy, He said he would get me out, get the charges erased.  I asked if he was a lawyer.  He said he wasn't.  I told him that he wasn't going to get me out.  Not this time.  I was stuck.  I told him that I had nowhere to go even if I were free.  He said he would adopt me.  I laughed at him.  He didn't know who I was.  I wasn't exactly the adoptable type.  I told him my past.  He was unphased.  Still wanted to adopt me.  He told me he would erase my debt and let me share his wealth, that his father was wealthy and generous.

   I said, "What's the catch?"

  He said,  "Just let me." 

  I said, "Yeah, right.  (Actually used another phrase).  There's always a price.  You're not doing this for free.

  He said, "You're right.  There is a price.  But someone else already paid it."

  "For me?"

  "With you specifically in mind, yes."

    I took him up on it.  It has been great.  My problems haven't vanished, but I always have my new Father, my True Father to go to with them.  He can always handle it.  There have been a lot of times where I didn't trust him with something he said he could help me with and I got screwed.  I found out later why he tried to steer me away from wherever I was going.  These days I just listen to him.  I don't have to worry.  I just leave it in his hands. 

   My dad is even working on a new place for me to live.  I will be with him and his other adoptees.  I haven't seen the place yet, but it already feels like home.  I know that's kinda weird, but somehow I know that is where I belong. 

(In progress:  Please come back to see the complete story.  To see a picture of God's great love for us that depends not on our worth, but on His character.)