Last night, I watched with heartache as someone I know well shared a drug-inspired Instagram post.
With tears streaming down my face, I prayed, “God, if You can save Ben Fuller, You can save them, too.”
Ben Fuller’s stripped-down acoustic performance of “Black Sheep” was one of the most emotional moments at the recent K-LOVE Fan Awards.
As Ben stood above the crowd on a table in the middle of the room, everyone fell silent. Then came the overwhelming response.
Though the performance took place miles away, its message streamed all the way to Montana—and straight into my heart.
His anthem was for the broken, the outsiders, and anyone who felt they had wandered too far or carried a burden from their past too heavy to bear.
Ben wasn’t simply performing. He was sharing the raw testimony of his own past.
At 18, he was introduced to cocaine at a party. What followed was a 14-year battle with heavy drug and alcohol abuse as he chased an insatiable high.
After the sudden loss of his best friend to a drug overdose, Ben’s outlook on life completely fractured. Then, one terrifying night when he nearly overdosed on cocaine, he fell to his knees and cried out, “Save my life, Lord, please. I don’t want to die.”
Eventually, a family friend invited him to church. The music pierced his heart. Ben surrendered his life to Christ and experienced an immediate, life-changing freedom from addiction.
And last night, as I watched someone I care about seemingly slipping into a place of darkness, I was reminded of Ben’s story.
Maybe you know someone, too.
Someone whose choices break your heart. Someone who seems to be wandering farther away. Someone whose past—or present—makes you wonder if they will ever find their way back.
In Luke 15: 3-7 Jesus recounts a Parable. He tells of the Lost Sheep, where a shepherd leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the open country to search for a single lost one until he finds it.
We may not be able to change another person’s choices. We may not know what to say or how to help. But we can pray.
We can keep loving. And we can keep believing in the God who meets people in their darkest moments.
Today’s song, “The Jesus I Know Now,” by Brandon Lake and Lainey Wilson, is an anthem for the broken and those searching for a better way:
“The Jesus I know now ain’t shaken a fist, ain’t raising a brow. He listens, forgives, then forgives again. Can’t believe I was missing out on the Jesus I know now.”
That is the Jesus I know, too. The Jesus who doesn't turn away from the broken. The Jesus who hears the desperate cry in the middle of the night. The Jesus who can reach into places we cannot.
And sometimes, when someone we love seems too far gone, our most powerful words may simply be whispered through tears: "Jesus, You saved Ben. I believe You can save them, too.”
Because no matter how far someone has wandered, God is still able to meet them there.
