Like tens of millions of Americans, I was shocked by the heartbreaking and tragic deaths of prizewinning film director Rob Reiner and his gifted photographer wife, Michele. Rob and his wife were apparently viciously murdered by his drug-addicted and much-troubled son, Nick.
The Reiners deaths at the apparent hands of their son once again underscores the terrible scourge of drug addiction in the United States and the terrible, heart-wrenching anguish it creates in millions of American families, regardless of income or social status.
It is estimated that 50 million Americans struggle with alcohol and drug addictions. Approximately 17% of people 12 or older in the U.S. “reported having a substance abuse disorder in the past year.”
This terrible tragedy seems to be particularly painful during the Christmas holiday. At Christmas, we gather as families (I am so grateful that my wife and I will have all three of our children and their families with us this Christmas). I cannot help but think of the millions of Americans who will have empty chairs at the dinner table this Christmas because of the scourge of drug addiction.
I am reminded of an answer that Ambassador Mike Huckabee once gave to a reporter who was inquiring about his qualifications to be president of the U.S. as a former Baptist pastor (before becoming governor of Arkansas). I will never forget his answer. Huckabee said, when you are pastor of a local congregation in America, there is not a crisis in our country that as a pastor you cannot put a personal, human face to because you have had to help some family face it, whether it is domestic abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, homicide, suicide, etc. Ambassador Huckabee was absolutely correct.
I disagreed with Rob Reiner about virtually everything that you can disagree with someone in the public policy arena about. However, my heart aches for the suffering that he and his wife went through as they tried to rescue their troubled son from the horrible grips of drug addiction. I pray for their other children as well as Nick.
The Reiners evidently did everything they could to rescue their son. Nick was in drug treatment programs 18 times while still a teenager. He spent periods being homeless on the streets in a seemingly relentless cycle of relapse upon relapse. The Reiners’ story serves as an incandescent example of the fact that, despite having almost limitless financial resources and access to the best expertise that money can buy, such things are no guarantee that you will be spared agonizing heartbreak.
I find my response to the Reiner tragedy falling into two categories. The first is my response as a born-again Christian. My second response is as an American citizen.
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at The Christian Post)
