A few weekends ago, Greg and I had some good friends visiting us from Michigan. On an especially beautiful fall day we decided to drive up to the Northern Georgia mountains, which is one of our favorite things to do. We stopped in a quaint little town called Dahlonega, which reminds me of stepping back in time to where life was simpler, kinder, and less chaotic. As we walked around the town’s square, we stepped into this one small shop that had a variety of goods: Fragrant candles, lovely local pottery, and specialty pieces all displayed on the shelves. What caught my eye was a t-shirt in the corner of the store with the words “Love Well” on it. As I looked at it I thought to myself, “Oh what a sweet message”. However, I didn’t realize was there was a painful story behind it. As I was admiring other items in the shop, I overheard the store keeper sharing with a customer of how the “Love Well” t-shirts came to be. It turns out that a local teenage girl was being bullied in school by a some of her classmates. One day, as they continued to pick on her, the young girl decided to read her bible. As she was reading it, she came across this verse:​

​I was drowning in depression. It was a clear and sunny afternoon as I drove the 125-mile stretch of interstate from a meeting in Detroit back to my office in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At 80 miles per hour, I approached a bridge overpass just west of Lansing, the state’s capital. I had decided that the pain of failing as a dad and the judgement, embarrassment, and uncomfortable silence of so many friends and family members was more than I could handle. The bridge was approaching fast, and the expansion joints in the concrete highway made a slapping sound on the tires like a rapid heartbeat. As the shadow of the bridge closed in, I was within a millisecond of ending it all when I jerked the wheel back straight and aborted the collision. Having nearly scared myself to death, I pulled over on the side of the highway. My whole body was shaking as I realized how close I had come to doing the dumbest thing ever. I immediately called my physician, who agreed to see me at once…