My phone whistled, and the text from my friend said, Brennan Manning has died. I started to cry. It was not just because of losing a trusted mentor. I knew he had been ill with alsohol related brain disorder brought on by his chronic alcoholism. Yes, one who taught me about the love of Jesus because he knew it personally.
The last time I saw him, I already knew. One does not forget that smell. I walked up to him after a series of lectures and I smelled him, long before I got to his table. That smell that you instinctively know. The smell you knew forget. The smell of the habitual intake of alcohol. The smell that last long after the last drink which may have been an hour ago or much longer. I knew before he came clean with his struggle. I nver said anything to anyone. I was in christian shock. How could someone talk about the love of God and have an issue as deadly as the sin of drink? How little I knew then, now I know.
It may not be drink for your and me.
It may be brownies, or shopping or the internet.
We all struggle and those that say they don't, are lying.
Yet, the last couple of weeks have been filled with more than a few deaths. One was very close, and the news of Brennan's death... started the tears and it would be a while before I could contain them. Still feeling a bit weepy, yet I know how his body had given up on him a long time ago and the greatest gift he could get was, death. No more pain, either physical or emotional. He is now with his Abba. All these years of talking about Him, now it is time to experience it first hand.
Richard Francis Xavier Manning, we wish you peace. RIP, we will miss you...
