My brother is 17 years old and graduating from high school in December. He turns 18 at the end of July. Unless a miracle happens, I will only have a brother until July 29. As it is, the boy living in my parents' house is not really my brother, but rather an empty shell that looks like him. He admittedly is trying to push my family away so it will look like he has no choice but to leave an unloving family, which is a lie. My parents have been very patient with him with everything he has put them through recently. He has emotional problems that caused him to snap right before Christmas which put him in court ordered intensive therapy for 2 months. The day I left to go back to school this semester, he lied to my parents, telling them that he was going with a friend to a city a few hours away when he really was going to Minnesota to meet someone he met online. (We live in Indiana.) He owes my parents a couple hundred dollars due to his court fees and speeding ticket. He recently announced that he is a proud homosexual, which hurts both of my parents but especially my mom who has been a devout Christian all her life. He says that he hates our dad because he's never been there and "he's only good for a paycheck" (my brother's exact words). No, my dad hasn't been around for most of our lives, but that's only because the only work he can find that pays well enough is a 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm shift at a local factory. He wants to be home with his family, but he just can't do that and still provide for us. To add insult to injury, my brother wants to change his full name. The name he was given when he was born has meaning behind it, but he has a philosophy of "a name is just a name, it means nothing." If that were the case, then changing his name should not even be an issue to him. If his current name is meaningless, then why does he need a different meaningless one?

My brother, as I knew him, is dying quickly. This is a frightening reality for me. I am a very family oriented person and to see a member of my family doing this to the rest of it is very painful to watch from far off as is the case for me. (I go to school in Illinois.)
Please, please, please pray for him, that God would do something to change what is happening. I know He can change things for the better. I just pray that it is in God's Will to give us that miracle. Please keep him in your prayers!

I will most definitely keep you, your brother and your family in prayer.

I know how hard it is to watch a brother go totally off the rails, my brother isn't as bad as this, but I can still understand how you feel.

i'll keep you and your fam in prayer dude...

I'll keep everyone in my prayers. I know how it is to have a sibling like that...

I called home today to see how things were going amidst the chaos. I guess Saturday my parents told my brother that when he turns 18, he will no longer be allowed to live there unless his attitude drastically changes for the better. At first, he was pretty apathetic about it, but after thinking about what that would mean for him (he'd be without a car, he'd have to pay for his own school books, he'd have no home to go to, etc.) he's now sounding a bit more worried about getting kicked out of the house in only 5 months. My parents met with their pastor to see what he thinks they should do about my brother, and he said that they are doing all the right things for him. He's also looking into laws about belligerent children for them since my brother showed his horrible temper at a family meeting about what kind of behavior my parents won't tolerate from him. He apologised to my mom and sister and admitted he's been a real jerk lately, but he still wishes my dad was dead.

I'm going home on Saturday for a week to work on wedding stuff, so I am a bit apprehensive about seeing him. I don't want him to put on a façade to make me think that everything's like it always was at home, cuz I know better. But at the same time, I don't want to spend my spring break dealing with constant fighting. My fiancé has been doing a wonderful job of keeping me calm through everything, but I won't be able to see him for the entire week, so if something bad happens, I have to deal with it alone.

Thank you to everyone who's been praying about this. It means a lot to me that I can come here and share things like this and know that I have brothers and sisters in Christ that are willing to pray for someone they've never even met. Please continue to pray about this.

i'll be praying.

He seems wild, but just do not give up and the family shouldn't either. I know its hard, but sometimes you have to let people grow in areas like I have a distant family member that way. She does what she wants though.

;) My brother is 17 years old and graduating from high school in December. He turns 18 at the end of July. Unless a miracle happens, I will only have a brother until July 29. As it is, the boy living in my parents' house is not really my brother, but rather an empty shell that looks like him. He admittedly is trying to push my family away so it will look like he has no choice but to leave an unloving family, which is a lie. My parents have been very patient with him with everything he has put them through recently. He has emotional problems that caused him to snap right before Christmas which put him in court ordered intensive therapy for 2 months. The day I left to go back to school this semester, he lied to my parents, telling them that he was going with a friend to a city a few hours away when he really was going to Minnesota to meet someone he met online. (We live in Indiana.) He owes my parents a couple hundred dollars due to his court fees and speeding ticket. He recently announced that he is a proud homosexual, which hurts both of my parents but especially my mom who has been a devout Christian all her life. He says that he hates our dad because he's never been there and "he's only good for a paycheck" (my brother's exact words). No, my dad hasn't been around for most of our lives, but that's only because the only work he can find that pays well enough is a 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm shift at a local factory. He wants to be home with his family, but he just can't do that and still provide for us. To add insult to injury, my brother wants to change his full name. The name he was given when he was born has meaning behind it, but he has a philosophy of "a name is just a name, it means nothing." If that were the case, then changing his name should not even be an issue to him. If his current name is meaningless, then why does he need a different meaningless one?

My brother, as I knew him, is dying quickly. This is a frightening reality for me. I am a very family oriented person and to see a member of my family doing this to the rest of it is very painful to watch from far off as is the case for me. (I go to school in Illinois.)
Please, please, please pray for him, that God would do something to change what is happening. I know He can change things for the better. I just pray that it is in God's Will to give us that miracle. Please keep him in your prayers!
i'll be sure to keep him in my prayers.

ill be praying

God bless him..... that calls for some prayers by me and others... u'll probably get a little help from a man i know... I think his name is God creater of the world.... keep chuggin along!

Thanks for all the continued prayers. It seem like everyday he is becoming less and less of the brother I knew. At this point, my parents are looking forward to the end of July when he moves out so that they will have some relief from his rudeness and blatant disrespect. They will still be worried about him, but they are at the end of their rope with him. He's found a "friend" who he thinks is going to take care of him for the rest of his life that he is planning to move in with. But he obviously has no real clue of how life really is once you're out of the house. He wants to learn things the hardest way possible, and he's going about it the right way. Please keep up the prayers. I have a feeling that this is going to get much worse before it gets better.

ill keep yall in my prayers

i will definitly be praying for you. i am going to past and copy your post to and email and send it to some friends so that they can be praying to. God bless