In 1988 George H.W. Bush was elected President of the United States, but in 1987 the frontrunner for the Democrats was a senator from Colorado named Gary Hart. After rumors surfaced about extramarital affairs, Hart famously dared reporters to follow him, so they did. Two reporters from The Miami Herald saw a young woman leaving Hart's Washington, D.C. townhouse on the evening of May 2nd. The woman was 29-year-old Donna Rice. A few days later the media revealed that Hart had spent a night in a yacht called the Monkey Business with Ms. Rice. Pictures of Rice sitting on Hart's lap made front-page news around the nation.

 

Senator Hart's presidential bid imploded, but whatever happened to Donna Rice? In 2013 she explained how she had wandered from and returned to her faith in Christ:

Toward the end of my college career, I started making these little left hand turns. Before long I was dating some non-Christian guys and thought, "That's not a big deal." It's hard to believe how you can go from here to there-you don't go there overnight, you go there by little wrong choices. I saw Hart only twice, but ... God was trying to get my attention prior to that, and it took an international sex scandal because I was stubborn. God will track you down. He will let things happen, the natural consequences of our choices.

 

Rice began her journey back to the Lord, living under the media's radar for seven years, caring for a disabled woman, getting married, and then becoming president of Enough Is Enough. Now the media seeks out Donna Rice Hughes not for her sexual scandals but for her expertise in promoting internet safety and sexual wholeness. Donna said, "Oddly, I was Miss Scandal Queen 1987 and now I'm seen as this voice of decency and morality. That's a God thing."

 

I am continually amazed with how God can take a person who is struggling (perhaps even in a public way,) and bring them into a relationship with Him that brings about a "building up" of His kingdom.

 

Even when we feel like we're "going down for the last time," there is still hope through the power of an amazing God Who loves us deeply.

 

Have a great day and God bless!

 

 

Pastor Mike / The Open Word