THE RECREATION OF DUDLEY
He Burned the Right Bridges
Psalm 23 :1-3 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

Laurence Peter: The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross, and which bridge to burn.

For all practical purposes, I’ll name him Dudley. This is a true story of a rich, (pardon the language) smart-ass punk, who balanced the beam between heaven and hell, life and death, and rebirth and destruction.
All I can say is that it had to be by the hand of the Almighty, that he chose heaven, life, and rebirth.
Dad inherited a huge fortune. From the time he was forty years old, he lived a maniacal existence, and never worked another day in his life. Dad made horrible choices. Drugs, drink, women, physical spousal abuse, emotional abuse upon the children; these all led to the enhancement of a severe mental disorder. DAD WAS A MESS! Not to anyone’s surprise, the family suffered horribly.
Sweet, adorable, beautiful mom did her best to pull things together, but to no avail. Finally, the family divorced him completely and entirely. That was the best choice they ever made.
My youngest son, as his two brothers before him, was a huge influence on the oldest brother. The Christian Spirit of my son’s entire high school class, mentored many.
I’ll refer to the oldest brother as Prince. I call him that due to the fact that he became a Godly husband, father, and a great support to his community. He and his beautiful wife are now the proud parents of 3 children.
As Prince got his life together, Dudley was flailing in the waters of despair. He and his classmates went from doobies, to serious drugs, drink, illicit sex and who knows what else?
It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least, if they found Dudley shot or dead from an overdose.
About 5 years ago, he up and joined the U.S. Army. I praised God, because if he stuck it out, I knew his life would be reformed.
At the break of the first year, I attended a picnic at his mother’s home. Some of his low life classmates attended. Dudley hadn’t changed a whole heck of a lot. The punk, big-shot attitude was still present. I knew that some of his behavior was due to the presence of his former classmates….or shall I say losers.
I hadn’t seen Dudley for quite some time. Prince had texted me and informed me that he, his eldest son, and Dudley would be attending my youngest son’s football game. He is the head coach in a small town in Ohio.
I didn’t want to be judgmental. However, my thoughts were the following: “Is he still going to be a loser? Has the Army transformed him? Whatever the outcome, Lord, I will praise and encourage him.”
By mid- first quarter  of the game, my son’s team had already scored 2 touchdowns. So it was a huge surprise as Dudley plopped down between my husband and I. Prince, along with his son, sat in front.
I was overwhelmed and in tears, as a 30 year old mature Drill Sgt. sat next to me. The evening was filled with hugs, tears, Bravos, and OMG’s! “Master Drill Sgt. Mama….can you believe it?” He showed me pics of his best buddies and their graduation.
Yes! Dudley Do Right had arrived. All of this success is now his, because he made positive choices for his life. “Prince told me he’s proud of me, Mama! Can you believe it? I never thought I’d hear that from him. My response; “You deserve it, Honey, because you made the choice. You put in the work.”
God Bless you Dudley Do Right, as you said, “Now I touch the lives of others, Mama!”
HEAVENLY FATHER: Thank You for recreating Dudley. I praise your Holy name.
Sue Cutler
Fearless Faith