My friend is missing. Please pray for him and his family.
My friend Gary is missing. He is married, and has two 12 year old children (twins). His family has not seen him since Sunday evening (June 12, 2011).
About ten years ago, before I met Gary, he was diagnosed as bipolar. Very quickly, the doctors were able to prescribed a medicine regimen that helped him tremendously. He started seminary a few months before I did, and started working in the same office two months after me. So, we have known each other for almost nine years.
Gary is a great friend. He is an awesome theologian and philosopher. We’ve talked and encouraged and admonished one another about church, families, prayer, and so many other things. He is a mentor as well as a brother.
About a year ago, Gary’s medication stopped working. He began going through long and short bouts of depression while the doctors tried to regulate his medication again. This time, it isn’t going to smoothly. They’ve tried medicine after medicine after medicine. We’ve talked and prayed and laughed and cried together as he worked through this.
Yesterday afternoon (Monday, June 13, 2011), Gary’s wife and children came home and found a note that Gary left for them. According to his wife, the note indicated that Gary was planning to take his life.
No one has heard from Gary since his family talked with him before bedtime Sunday night. We know he left his house around 8:30 a.m. Monday morning and later bought gas and breakfast. As of Monday evening, there was some indication (via his cell phone) that he was still traveling around the area.
My heart is hurting. Yes, I’m hurting for myself and my family, because we all think alot of Gary. But, my heart is primarily hurting for Gary’s wife and children. They just want to know where their husband and father is.
God, could you let them know? Could you let us all know? We want Gary back.
(And, would you please pray for Gary and his family?)
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I wrote this post Monday evening after spending several hours with Gary’s family. (I rescheduled several posts that I had already written because I just didn’t want to think about ecclesiology.)
Within an hour or so of re-writing this post, Gary’s wife left this message on Facebook: “Gary just texted. He says he’s ok. Couldn’t go through with it and would be home tomorrow. Please keep praying.”
I decided to leave this post as is and ask you to continue praying for Gary and his family.
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Final update… Gary came home around 7:00 this morning (Tuesday, May 14, 2011).
Thanks for posting this. I will be praying for Gary and his family. I personally know the heartache of being diagnosed bipolar and being suicidal and actually attempting to take my own life. However, I also know the joy of being completely healed and set free by Jesus. I am writing this to give your friend Gary hope that nothing is impossible with God. I have been medication free and completely healed for years of “bipolar disorder.” What the enemy intended for harm, the Lord has turned around into a powerful testimony for others. My prayer is that what just happened will turn around into a testimony to help others. My testimony of being healed of bipolar disorder is on my website at http://www.nicholemarbach.com to give others hope!
Prayed for Gary and his family. Grateful he came home this morning. We pray now that he can get the help he is needing. Thank you for being Gary’s friend.
We are frail. Thank you Jesus. We love you. Please help us and heal us all, things can be so hard, we need you.
Thanks everyone for the prayer. I know they appreciate it. Gary is a great brother, a wonderful encourager, and much smarter than me.
Nichole,
Yes, we firmly believe that Jesus can cure Gary and we’ve been praying for that for a year. We’ll keep praying and trust him, whether he chooses to heal Gary or not.
-Alan
Thank God he’s home! Praise the Lord
Thank God he made it home.
So thankful he came back home and will be praying for he and his family as they continue to work through his depression etc. Wow. Praise God that he is holding Gary in the shelter of his wing.
Alan,
I arrived late on the scene, but am so thankful our Father hears the prayers of His children.
This is awesome news.
Glad to hear the good news!
Very good news….am also thankful for heard prayers.
Wow. Hearing this story brought instant tears to my eyes as it’s almost exactly what a great friend & lifelong mentor of mine went through about a year ago. Thankfully, like Gary, he came back. He’s had a horrible year of trying to find the right medication & dealing with unimaginable side affects. I had a great conversation with him this morning & it appears that things are just now starting to look up for him. I will pray for Gary everytime I pray for my friend. The most important to remember is that God is still God, and God is still good.
I will continue to keep the family in my prayers.