The Rest of the Story

My freshman year at Valley Forge I met a young man who was a year ahead of me. He was from southern Virginia and was not your "typical" Bible college student; he had long hair and a rough look. The guys on his dorm floor called him "Weasel" in that college-guy way of nicknaming someone to cement your friendship. For the purpose of protecting his anonymity, I'll call him "Bob."

Bob was the youngest of several brothers who were real trouble--they drank, did drugs, were in trouble with the law, and were pretty bad dudes. But Bob had come to Christ and had been very involved in his youth group, eventually going to Bible College. However, Bob's brothers constantly mocked him and needled him about being a holy roller, too good to hang out with them. When he came home from school breaks, they hassled him. "What kind of brother are you, if you won't go out with us?" they would ask when heading out on the town. One holiday break, he finally broke down and said he'd go out with them, but he wouldn't drink.

Unfortunately, as they harassed him more and more, he finally did start drinking. In fact, one drink led to another and before he knew it, he was completely passed out drunk. When he came to, he found himself surrounded by four murdered men. His brothers were nowhere to be found. Bob was scared to death--he had no idea what had happened, although he suspected his brothers had been the murderers. He went on the run, scared to be arrested himself, scared to name his brothers as suspects. When he was eventually arrested, it was for four counts of murder. Later, it was dropped (I believe) to accomplice/accessory to murder.

When our semester resumed at Valley Forge, the administration gave us all this information. Since it had already made headline news in Virginia, many students already knew all about it. We all prayed for Bob, but gradually the gossip died down, and I never knew what happened to Bob, other than that he was in jail.

Last Sunday I was in Bob's home church. I had already planned on asking the pastor for "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey always says. I've always prayed for Bob when he comes to mind, so I was thrilled to hear that Bob is still serving the Lord. He is no longer in jail and lives with a family member who also is heavily involved in the church they attend. I will probably keep praying for Bob, because he was a nice guy when I knew him years ago, and I can't help feeling that he paid dearly for a night of weakness.