Joey is the name of a haunting beautiful and sad song from the band, Concrete Blondes that came out in 1990. According to Wikipedia (take it as you will) the lead singer wrote it about a man she knew who was a drug addict.

The song is supportive of the person, not his habit. It is a message of grace.

The song talks about her being willing to give him more and more.

The song talks about her being more than ready to forgive if he truly repents.

The song talks says that if he is hurting, then she is hurting too.

Do you know a Joey? Do you know a person who you have helped and helped and helped, yet they never change? I have known people who have been complaining about the same things for 30 years. Sometimes all we can do is love someone. Sometimes all we can do is stand by and watch them fight their secret war.

I have known a few persons like this. One was named Ted. I met him a long time ago, in the early 90s. He could not hold a job and he cannot to this day. Whenever I introduce him to someone who has even a tiny bit of soul in their bodies, they want to help him through religious means or monetarily. They all believe if someone just loved him for just a few minutes, he would be able to change his life. I have seen those, “saviors” come and go, yet none of them have changed him. Those charitable concerns or actions do not make him less paranoid or allow him any relief from his delusions. He refuses their help. However, over the past 30 yers, I keep trying to be a friend and keep pointing him to the answers that lie in the Lord (Lord be praised). Yet, he really has not changed and refuses to change. He is just like the Joey in the song and all I can do is sit back and watch him fight his secret war.

Are we not the same to the Lord? The writer of Proverbs (26:11) says it this way, “As a dog returns to his vomit, so does a fool to his folly”. Just think about the story of Samson. How many times did his lust get him in trouble? He never learned his lessons and it is so rare that we learn ours either. I am definitely thankful that He has not given up on me! Even when we are somewhere out there, passed out on the floor (listen to the song), the Lord is not angry, but is calling us back to Himself, offering us forgiveness. Its not a cheap forgiveness, either. It was paid in blood.

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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