ENCOUNTERING GODA Negative Becomes a Positive
My near-fatal brush with this ever-present
stalker of the human race actually helped me.
A negative experience became a positive one,
because I emerged with a new set of values. My
former life no longer possessed an attractive aura.
In my mind, the gyrating, sensory-pounding,
party-going ‘music’ of college life slowed down
and decreased in volume, until it became a still
picture: static, silent, and unappealing. As if
suspended in time, I looked around and saw only
empty and confused faces, even among those who
claimed to be the most educated and informed.
I’d been a rock musician in my latter high
school years, but the alcohol, the drugs, the
absence of moral boundaries took its toll, and
that kind of lifestyle no longer looked very ‘rock-
solid.’ Spiritual quicksand was slowly pulling me
under and I knew it was just a matter of time
before I succumbed. When I entered Florida
State University, I strongly considered majoring
in oceanography, but after my near-death
encounter, I painfully realized, “I could spend my
entire life searching out the depths of the ocean and