09/01/2026
Tonight at Overcomer felt different.
Today is Overdose Awareness Day, and this weekend overdose became painfully personal to people we love. Our pastors and dear friends, Farris and Miriam, are walking through the unimaginable loss of Miriam’s brother, Garrett.
Garrett had shared his testimony at Overcomer before. He had stood among us and told his story. And now, on a day set aside to remember the lives lost to overdose, we gathered knowing that his name had become one of them.
That is incredibly hard to comprehend.
Because for so many of us in that room tonight, it could have been us.
We know what it is to have been close to the edge. We know the places God reached into and pulled us from. And sometimes I think we move so far forward that we forget just how much grace it took to get us here.
Tonight, we remembered.
We stopped the clock and stood in the gap. We prayed over Farris as he stood in the gap for his family, his wife, and the people he loves while they walk through a depth of grief that words cannot touch.
And for a moment, there was this overwhelming awareness:
We are still here.
Not because we were stronger.
Not because we figured it all out.
Not because we deserved another chance more than someone else did.
Grace.
Grace upon grace upon grace.
And then Farris stood up, carrying his own grief, and brought a word about diluted oil that landed differently tonight.
What has diluted our passion and pursuit of God? Compromise? Distraction? The world? The people we allow close enough to influence what God has placed inside of us?
He reminded us that oil represents being set apart. There is something on your life that requires you to be careful who you mix with and what you allow to influence you. Don’t let your environment pollute your consecration.
Hungry people seek the presence of God. Don’t let someone else’s lack of hunger make you lose your appetite.
There is a difference between looking prepared and being prepared. You need your own oil.
Not everyone needs a seat at your table. Love does not require agreement, access, or influence. Sometimes God changes your circle because the oil on your life is connected to a purpose.
There is a gap between being anointed and appointed, and the oil empowers us through the process.
Tonight was heavy. It was holy. It was humbling.
On Overdose Awareness Day, I am painfully aware that recovery is not something to become casual about. Life is precious. The people beside us are precious. And the grace that allowed some of us to still be standing here today should never become ordinary.
Tonight we remembered those who didn’t make it.
We stood with a family whose grief is brand new.
And those of us who are still here were reminded:
Protect your oil. Stay hungry. Stay close to God. And never become so familiar with grace that you forget what a miracle it is that you are still here. 💜🕊️
