On Friday January 22nd the body of a man was found on Peirce Island, Portsmouth. I was there to walk my dog when the police arrived and I was asked to leave. I later found out that a man had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. I was saddened to hear the news. I was then shocked when I received a call from the Salvation Army to tell me it was someone I knew, someone who had attended our church, someone we and the Salvation Army had tried to help.

Doug Grant was a sweet man. He was homeless, down on his luck and we met him at our Saturday lunches just before Christmas. He was grateful for the food, but most of all for the friendship. A couple of our volunteers invited him to church the next day. They sat with him all through the meeting and at the end, with tears in his eyes he asked if we could pray with him to receive Christ as his Savior. He was very happy.

The day after Christmas, Doug suffered a stroke. He was in hospital for a week and then in a rehabilitation center for a while. When he came out he was confused and emotionally unstable because of the stroke. I helped him get the medication he needed; The Salvation Army managed to get him a bed; Crossroads Shelter did all they could to help; but sadly none of our help was enough. Doug ended it all. Could this have been prevented? I don't know.

I thank God that he saves us even in spite of ourselves. Taking your life is wrong, our lives are not ours to take, they are a gift from God. But thank God, because of His grace and mercy, Doug’s salvation did not depend on what he did or didn’t do, but on what Christ had already done on his behalf by dying in his place. I thank God that he has received Doug into his arms because Doug surrendered his life to Jesus. Doug is now in paradise. Because of Jesus, Doug is now a free man, he is no longer homeless.

I am grateful to my friends at Harbor Church for making Doug welcome, for reaching out to him, befriending him and leading him to Christ. I am grateful to the Salvation Army for the support they provided and for working tirelessly on his behalf.

I wish we could have done more, and one day we will. It’s been our aim for a while to get transitional housing for people like Doug and to provide the kind of support and encouragement that is needed to get people off the streets and integrated back into society. It’s why we started www.restore61.com (formerly Acorn Foundation). May the memory of Douglas Grant serve to remind us why we are here and to spur us on to love and good works. May God grant us the grace and resources to do everything we can do to help prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future.

{This post was originally written by Ian Ashby for the Harbor Church blog.}