How Pain Found Peace

There are two results for wanderers: to leave or to return. Wanderers choose to return to square one when they realize that their initial circumstance was the best to begin with. Others, like Dave Pelzer and Cheri Peters learn that they must leave their current position and find alternate sources of peace or freedom. 

Dave Pelzer is a survivor of one of the worst cases of child abuse in California. As a young boy, Pelzer was starved, beaten, neglected, stabbed, and burnt by his alcoholic mother. At the age of twelve, upon going to school with a stab wound from his mother, the school nurse notified the police despite Pelzer's "explanations." Consequently, Pelzer lived in many foster homes and eventually joined the Air Force at 18.  Alone and confused about the world, Pelzer wandered and struggled with the effects of his childhood until he eventually found peace by returning home to forgive his mother. He decided, like Qoheleth, to seek the things of true value in his life. To stop the vicious cycle of abuse, Pelzer forgave and began writing to help other abuse victims, authoring 7 books. He has become a best-selling author, was nominated for the Pulizter prize, and was awarded "Outstanding Person of the World" in 1994. 

Cheri Peters has become famous among Christians for her radical conversion story-- her escape from drugs, gang involvement, sex, and abuse. Peters, a barroom/x-rated dancer (& much more), was, by the grace of God,  "plucked" out of her immoral lifestyle by an old couple who chose to reach out and help.  She had to finally learn to trust God and pull out the visible, human relationships and tangible, materialistic things that once was her foundation. She, like the author of Ecclesiastes finally realizes the vanity and meaninglessness of all the "pleasures" of the world. After first hand experience of the damage that pleasure-seeking causes, Peters, like Qoholeth, commits to live her life according to God's commandments. Ecclesiastes also suggests us to live "good" lives, to reach out and help as far as our abilities allow. In both of my references, it is eye-awakening to see how small, helping actions can produce life changing results in others. A school nurse reporting an abuse case or allowing a woman of questionable reputation to stay in your home--simple actions that transformed lives of the receiver. We must realize how much God can bless our efforts to give aid to those around us. 

-Erica Evans