The Investigation
by David Lytle McDonough Sr.

A detective in a criminal investigation will look for three important considerations in determining whether a person could be a potential suspect. First, does the potential suspect have a motive to commit the crime in question; second, does the person have the means to commit this crime; and third, did the person in question have the opportunity to commit this crime.

Motive, means and opportunity were important in my life because they represented escape from the turbulent home life I experienced during my childhood. Constant arguing and alcohol created a challenging childhood I did not understand. I blamed myself, and believed if I could do things better or be better, the circumstances would change. I had no idea my parent’s actions had nothing to do with me. Eventually realizing that “being good” could not change anything, I determined escaping the turbulent family would be the best answer.

My motive was to follow the path of my older brother and sister who made better grades than I did and were able to escape to prestigious eastern boarding schools, beginning in the eighth grade. My motive was strong, but the means and opportunity were weak, due to poor grades in school and low self-esteem.

Finally, a great opportunity came during my senior year in high school as I was applying for college admission. Most of the colleges I applied to rejected me because my grade point average placed me in the lower half of my graduating class. Then, I heard from a small out-of-state college located in Massachusetts. In the 60’s the school admissions office was looking for out-of-state students, and being from Dallas, they were willing to loosen their entrance requirements a bit for me to get in. Motive, means, and opportunity were finally all coming together for my escape to any place far from home.

My get away motive was strong, and my opportunity finally arrived; but a big problem with my means came up. I was not getting scholarship money from this Massachusetts college, which meant that my Dad needed to pay for my education. He firmly believed if you were going to live and work in Texas, then you needed to attend a Texas college. I wanted to get away from Texas, so he told me that if I would go to any college in Texas for one year and do well, then he would pay for an out of state college. My means was gone, so I agreed to go to North Texas State University (NTSU) in Denton for a year. I still had motive, opportunity and eventually the means to make the escape I wanted. As life would have it, I actually began to like NTSU and Denton my first year. I was far enough away from home to be on my own and close enough to get back for holiday events.

Life moved on, and I stayed in Denton at North Texas, getting more lost in myself and the world. Four years passed with no degree, and suddenly something unexpected happened. The Military Selective Service lottery was established. My birthday lined up with a low lottery number, so off I went into the military. Being self-absorbed, I did not realize the miracle of getting into the United States Coast Guard (another testimony in itself). For the following four years I traveled throughout the Pacific and Asia, and various port cities in the U.S. I now had the escape I always wanted without any means, motive or opportunity. It just happened.

Because alcohol had been such a negative part of my growing up years, I made one of those personal vows never to drink. That worked during high school and college. Being overseas in Guam with a bunch of sailors, the vow I made quickly dissolved. It started with one beer at the Club Mocambo, the Enlisted Men’s club on Guam, and continued on to a path of near destruction. That first drink was an act of defiance on my part.

After the Coast Guard, I completed college; after a short nine-month engagement, there was marriage. Life moved on with a successful career in commercial real estate, which led to a new motive, means and opportunity in my life. Wealth was the motive; and the means were long hours away from my family. This turned me into a man pleaser and led to more insecurity. Promotions provided opportunity with a variety of Texas and Florida companies. The trick to success (at least in my eyes) was to keep moving ahead of any potential problems with the companies I worked for or their commercial properties. This thinking also led to owning residential rental properties along with a thriving janitorial business at the end of my thirty-two year career.

The first fourteen years were the most turbulent because I had a young family and was working long hours. I drank alcohol to try to keep it all together and build my low self- esteem. My wife was not happy because she was caring for four young children by herself with very little support from me. Although everything looked good on the outside, my life and family were on a downward spiral.

My carnal life came to an abrupt end on December 19, 1990 after a very successful real estate year in Tampa, Florida. I was working for a Canadian company where our Florida commercial properties outperformed our projections. I was the Director of Commercial Real Estate for Florida at the time and because of our banner year, we decided to have a celebration. Although we planned a more formal event later with executives arriving from Toronto, December 19^th was the celebration day in our Tampa office.

At my request, alcohol, without much food, began flowing around 3:00 p.m. as we were putting the final touches on our reports and accounting to be placed in overnight mail to the home office in Toronto. Care was taken to ensure the reports and accounting details were accurate before mailing because, as an office, we were proud of our accomplishments and wanted the home office to appreciate them as well.

The DHL currier came, the large bound reports were sent out, and we began the party. It started in our office and moved to a restaurant close by. After spending several hours partying, I left ahead of most of the others, who were now eating before they decided to drive home. I didn’t need food. In my mind all I needed was to get home. In 1990, a drive home at 9:00 p.m. was a non-event activity in Tampa, Florida. However, with all of the Christmas parties and downtown events going on, the roads were busy.

As I drove through downtown Tampa, as I had done hundreds of other times, there was an event at the Performing Arts Center with lots of traffic. I was in no shape to drive and ended up running into the back of another car. A low-speed incident, it was no big deal. It turned out to be a huge deal because the driver I ran into saw my condition and flagged a nearby policeman, who promptly arrested me. I was quickly hauled off to a night in the Hillsborough (Tampa) county jail. My wife bailed me out the next morning, but prior to that I had all night to figure everything out. The plan was to profusely apologize, go home, shower, change and get back to the office where life would move on.

Nothing moved on at that point. On the way home from jail, we took a different route to a small town south of St. Petersburg called Largo, Florida. My wife informed me we were headed for Medfield Clinic in Largo, and I was going to sign myself in there or she was taking our children and moving back to Dallas. Everything was real clear at that point in my life. I was a mess, and I was about to lose my family. I was on the edge of feeling shame and remorse for my life, but that was to come later during the counseling portion at Medfield. I was where I swore I’d never be.

Have you ever felt that way?

My old motive, means and opportunity were abruptly ended. I was about to develop a whole new motive and the means and opportunity would follow.

While at Medfield, I was assigned to the Christian section of the Clinic and to a counselor, John Thompson, who was an associate Pastor of a non-denominational church in Tampa. He had a Doctorate in Theology, so he was known as Dr. Thompson. On our first interview, Dr. Thompson asked me if I was a Christian and if I knew that I was an alcoholic. He also asked, “Do you believe God can deliver you from alcohol?” My response to everything was yes. His response was, “No you don’t. You are lying, and all you want is another drink.” Then the shame and remorse came because Dr. Thompson was right. All I wanted was another drink.

Dr. Thompson explained that no real change could ever take place in my life without knowing Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Years earlier I claimed to receive Jesus into my heart but that was mostly to please my Christian wife, Susan. There was no real change in my life, and all my heart wanted was life my way. After several weeks of counseling, I repented of my sins and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.

That first drink of defiance finally turned into total surrender.

Then Dr. Thompson asked me the same question as before. Did I believe that Jesus Christ could deliver me from alcohol? We prayed a short prayer. I’m thinking, should we pray a little longer? So, I asked him after his prayer, “Is that it?” He said, “That’s it.”

I was released from Medfield after several months and returned to work. By law, my employer had to hold my job, so I was anxious to get back to work and prove my value to the company so they wouldn’t look for another way to fire me.

At first I didn’t notice anything different because I was so immersed in family life and work. Then it occurred to me the desire for alcohol was actually gone. During the late afternoon and after work there was no desire for a drink of any kind except water or a soda. The miracle of being delivered by God struck me, and the reality was evident to everyone who knew me. I was excited about my transformation, but one thing still bothered me. My wife who had been so hurt was skeptical that my deliverance would last. It took time, but she eventually embraced the change in me, first through salvation, then through deliverance. She witnessed that I was spending more time with the family and less at the office. My priorities changed from work to family, and my job didn’t suffer at all.

Last December of 2015 marked 25 years since I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ as Savior. God gives all mankind free will. I could have chosen either not to have signed myself into Medfield Clinic for help, or I could have rejected Christ while there. The need for change in my life was so strong that I could not have continued on any longer with my lifestyle. I was miserable, and those in my family who loved me were miserable.

You may be looking at your life and thinking that you would like changes, but you are not sure about how to begin. I can tell you from experience if I had not taken the free gift of God’s grace into my life, I might not be here today. I might not be alive.

God created all of us and has a perfect plan for our lives, but we cannot discover His plan for our lives unless we surrender our lives to God’s Son, Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us that, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” That eternal life means going to Heaven after death and living with Christ forever in the family of God.

As a Christian, motive, means and opportunity have a whole new meaning. The motive is to honor and please God through obedience to His Word and surrender to His will in my life. The means is repenting of my sins and receiving Jesus Christ into my life as Lord and Savior. A daily rededication and thankfulness for God’s grace in my life, along with time alone with Jesus in His Word keeps me close to Him. The opportunity is now. God created all mankind with the free will to accept His offer of salvation and allow God to fulfill His plan for this world through us.

Have you ever conducted an investigation of your life, examining the motives behind your behavior? Ask God to show you how he sees you. He will give you the means and opportunity to change.

David McDonough serves in the Prison Ministry program at Prestonwood Baptist Church. He was born in Dallas, and graduated from the University of North Texas after serving in the U.S. Coast Guard. He is now retired in Plano, Texas with his wife of forty years. They have four children and four grandchildren.