Breaking The Habit

You've probably heard the news by now. Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, is dead. Suicide. Wanna know why he did it? Of course you do. We ALL do. But does anyone really know? Does anyone care?

"Well, I do."

I have been caught in the blast zone of suicide . . . more than once. I'm sure you have taken a hit too. We all have. We've all asked the questions. We all have found that the questions never end. And the answers . . . the answers are frightfully hard to come by.

How does a person get to the point where they decide to end it all? They choose to pull the plug rather than live one more day. Why?

Read this Facebook comment by John Cooper, lead singer of Skillet.

I don't usually speak out on things like this, but I feel I must. Like everyone else, I'm just shocked and broken over the suicide of Ches...ter Bennington. I didn't know him, never met him. But his music inspired me greatly. The first linkin park record "hybrid theory " has remained in my top 10 best albums of all time, and top 5 best Rock albums. I LOVE linkin park and I LOVE Chester's voice and it has been ripped away and stolen. There's no way to sugar coat this , or make it prettier. This just simply SUCKS. I've got nothing to say that can help. Michael Jackson, prince, Chris Cornell, now Chester..I just feel like I reach out to grab ahold of something that can make sense of this madness and there is nothing there reaching back. Just infinite blackness. Tragic. I don't want to preach. I don't want to judge. I don't want to make trite statements as if I have this figured out. I do not. Just like all his other fans, I'm confused. 

 I want to say out of total love and respect for the fans, just look at what suicide does to those who love you. It ravages the lives of those you leave behind. It's not poetic. It's not an answer. For those of you who have been suicidal, or had thoughts about suicide, please find someone to talk to. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Find someone that you can be honest with. We all feel a little dark sometimes. Some of us more than others. We all need hope. We all need healing. We are all the same. Please reach out to someone. Thehopeline.com

 "God is my refuge and my strength. He is always ready to help me in my times of trouble." (Psalm 46:1)

I think the real reason people take their own lives is fear. Fear of another day alone. Fear of another day of an unfulfilled life. Fear of one more day of pain. They grow weary of the battle and just chose the nearest exit. What they DON'T realize is their opening the wrong door.

Look at the picture above. Look at Chester's adoring fans. The stadium is FILLED with them. The picture tells you he was loved by millions. Yet, in Chester's mind, it wasn't enough.

There is a door left unopened in Chester's life. There is a door, behind which, lies al the answers. Chester chose not to open it. Too bad. If he had, he'd still be with us today.

When life gets hard it can suck sometimes. When we're alone and thoughts start going through our heads it's hard to think about going on sometimes. But that's the precise moment when we must! That's the moment when we must fight our hardest and reach out. That's the time that when breaking the habit is most critical. Knock on the door!!!

^"9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 

¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ¹² But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." - John 10:9-16

Jesus is the door.

Knock.

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8

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