Call. Even if you don’t think you need to.

Sometimes the pressure is so overwhelming, it’s like the only source of relief is the one of last resort.

Your relationship ended.  You lost a family member or a close friend.  The bullying is non-stop.  He won’t stop hitting you.  You just received the diagnosis.  Nobody understands.  Nobody cares.  Nobody would miss you.

And there’s so many ways out.  It doesn’t matter if the pills in the medicine cabinet aren’t yours, you’ll take them all.  Just close the garage door and start the car, and let the fumes do their work for you.  Or maybe that revolver in your parents’ bedroom.  It’ll be easy, Dad always keeps the gun loaded.

And you’ll show them.  They’ll mourn for you.  They’ll cry.  They’ll wish they could have saved you.  If you were back, they’d never hurt you again.

Okay, now try to come back.

Guess what?  You can’t.  It’s a one-way journey.

September is Suicide Prevention Month.  And if you’re in crisis, make a phone call and talk to someone who will listen to you.  Talk to anyone.  Because talking is a way out of a final and irrevocable solution.  There are people who want to help you.  Life is so precious, there’s no reason to throw it away like it was a gum wrapper.

You get one shot in this life.  You can’t hit <CTRL><ALT><DELETE> and hope that you can have a fresh start.  But you CAN take steps to change what is happening in your life.

I’ve seen it too many times in my life.  I lost a beloved teacher to suicide.  I lost some of my musical icons to suicide.  I almost lost my daughter.

Don’t walk that tightrope, hoping that someone will pull you back at the last minute.  Only you can make the decision to live.  Life is more important than anything, because without life you have nothing.

Who can you call?

Start with any of the phone numbers attached to this hyperlink.

There are ways to deal with what has happened in your life.  You can change your relationship status.  You can fight back against the bullying.  You can live your final moments by parachuting out of an airplane.

Life needs to be celebrated.  It’s part of the miracle that God gave us.  The miracle of belief.  Of hope.  Of faith.

He gave us that gift.  Don’t toss it away.

Nothing is so insurmountable that it can not be dealt with in life.  Even the worst bullies, the most vulgar griefers, the most sickening diagnoses, none of these should prevent you from living to be 150 or dying of old age.

All it takes is one phone call.  Step away from the edge.  Even if you can’t do it alone, take a moment and tell someone how you feel.  How you’re hurting.  Don’t keep all the anguish bottled up inside you until you explode.

You deserve to live as long as possible.

Call those numbers if you need to.

Or even if you don’t think that you need to.

Don’t let this month be the month where people place flowers or stones on your grave, and their thoughts are, “If only he were alive today, we could work out our problems.”

Because you can’t come back from the grave.  You’re not a vampire, you’re not a zombie, you’re not anything but a body in a casket.

And that’s not the alternative to life that you deserve.

You hear me?  Call those numbers.  Here’s another hyperlink, if you missed the first one.

Life is worth living.  Even when life is burdened by trouble.

Because if you outlast the trouble… there’s no limit to the joys you can achieve.