'A rose by any other name'

By Jeff Long

Dear reader, I'm sick of bad news. Like weeds that grow up between the cracks in pavement, the negative never seems to go away.

When you pull out a weed or use a lawn trimmer, the offending detritus comes back anyway. It's just a matter of time.

West Virginia flooding, Orlando nightclub massacre, plummeting stock values after Brexit -- you name it, weeds are ubiquitous. They're everywhere.

For now, this column will put all that aside. I'm trading in the weeds for a sweet-smelling flower. There will always be weeds, but a fully-blooming rose shouldn't be ignored.

The rose is Teen Challenge of Mid-America. From its hilltop campus in Cape Girardeau County, this long-term residential program has a simple mission: faith-based solutions for the drug epidemic. I've lived in Cape County for 11 years, have had several encounters with this group of men, and I've yet to be disappointed. Instead, every encounter to date has brought inspiration. I've hired work details to do labor on my properties -- generally long-deferred lawn care -- but the men usually are game to do whatever needs done.

The surprising discovery is there are no teens in Teen Challenge, a mystifying misnomer; they're all men. One soon-to-be graduate of Teen Challenge walks with a cane and appears to be about my age. To the uninformed, I'm no spring chicken.

Last Sunday at Abbey Road Christian Church in Cape Girardeau, all present heard a concert and testimonies from choir members.

Chris, 40, came to Teen Challenge from Mansfield, Ohio. Without going into Chris' travails, suffice it to say he has had more than his share of trouble.

Chris quoted the unforgettable story of St. Paul and his evangelistic companion Silas in prison in Philippi (Acts 16). An earthquake had caused the doors of the jail to be opened and the prisoners' chains to be loosed.

Chris internalized this tale, believing this is what God wants to do for him -- to break his chains of addiction.

The director of the Mid-America choir used a different analogy to describe the work of this 14-month program, one of 250 Teen Challenge organizations in the U.S. and 1,200 worldwide.

He asked the congregation to think about how a broken bone is mended. You put a cast on it. The cast doesn't do the healing, but it holds the bone together so healing can happen.

This, the director said, sums up the work of Teen Challenge.

The program doesn't accomplish the healing, but like a cast, Teen Challenge provides structure so Christ can heal. The men are awakened by bells and live an orderly existence -- with time for study and time to work for people like you and me in the community.

After hearing the choir and its members' personal testimonies of faith yesterday, I want to keep helping that sweet-smelling flower cast its scent over the ugliness that is seemingly all around.

I can patronize Teen Challenge's car wash at Independence Street and West End Boulevard. I can go to its thrift stores in Cape and Jackson. I can hire men to do yard work. I can pray.

I can spread the word through Facebook, texting and personal conversation about the good work Teen Challenge does.

I can use a newspaper column to do that -- and I just did. If you're wondering, I don't work for Teen Challenge, and I am not on its board. I've no official connection.

The success rate? Seventy-five percent. Three out of four men leave the program to go on to sober and drug-free lives in the community.

That's a sweet-smelling rose right there.