Feb/Mar  2008

It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this letter today.  I had been home a few short days from my yearly trip to the south when I recieved a very disturbing call.  Joshua Peppard, a 16 month old, had just be found dead.  Josh is the son of John and Amber, who are two of my people that are incarerated for alcohol related sentences.  Both parents had been in recovery and doing well until Thanksgiving Day when John had a slip in his recovery and thought he could take a holiday from his recovery.  Any recovering alcoholic will tell you that this is a lie of satan that many people stumble over.  He realized his mistake very quickly, but it was too late.  Amber was sitting in jail in another county because of a mistake in the system.  Her felony had been dismissed, but the judge and the paper work didn't meet in time and she was sitting there waiting for it to be worked out when her son became ill with a bad viral infection and died.  He is a precious little boy that was greatly loved by anyone who knew him and I felt as if he were my grandson.  His parents brought him to church on Sundays and he was in the church nursery on Wedsday nights when Amber came to Bible study with me.  Both parents knew they were paying for the consequences of their poor  decisions of the past, but were faithfully paying their debt to society and growing in their new found faith. 

After recieving this horrible news I immediately drove to Burley, Idaho where Amber looked into my eyes and said, "I have been praying to God to keep my children safe and asking Him to clear up this paper work so I can go home to the 4 children, so where are my prayers going?"  She feels hopeless and devastated.  When I saw John 24 hours later he wept with such a deep mouring , but was also filled with faith and strength as he shared he gratefullness that his son was safe in the arms of God and that he was alive, well, and playing at the feet of the Heavenly Father.  I was sent to pick out a cemetary plot and a little casket.  This was a hardship case so Circuit Riders paid some of the funeral expenses and I am still trying to raise money for the head stone.  Please pray  for John and Amber in their walk with the Lord as this loss has hit them so hard.  They are genuine people who want to be the people that God means for them to be.  They want to live a clean and sober life for him in the memory of their son.

The same week of this loss I recieved a phone call from "A" who told me she had an abortion set up for the next day.  She agreed to meet with me and allowed me to get her an appointment with a local Pregnancy Crisis Center where she is recieving help.  She needs a place to live, but I was able to help get her car running so that she can get to a job.  She has decided to keep the baby and raise it in a Christian Community with God's help! 

Thanks to all who support this ministry.  These people would not be recieving help if it wasn't for you!