I went to town on the 12th to get some guttering for the front of my house and I also bought two new bibles. One for Joe to replace the one his sister took and one for JW.
The Lord also moved me to purchase a get well card for JW.
With card and bibles in hand I stopped at their house to drop them off on my way home. Jerry was still away getting help. Joe was asleep, so I decided to return at a later time. This allowed me to write something to JW in his get well soon card. I felt the Lord guiding my writing. I had no idea what adding this simple gesture of a card to the gift of the bible, but I would soon find out.
I returned later that evening to drop off the bibles and the card. I was hoping they would be able to get JW's new bible and card to him in the facility where he was getting help. I gave JW's bible to his mother and showed her the card. It certainly touched his mother's heart. JW's father died at the young age of 41 when JW was only 15, 16, or 17, so he did not have the benefit of a father at a crucial time in his life. His mother did the best she could with her children, but a healthy two parent home with both a father and a mother has been proven to be the ideal environment to raise children. Of course there are examples of failures where two parents raised children, but I believe there are many, many more examples of failures where one parent is missing for whatever reason; divorce, death, promiscuity and never being married, etc.
The facility released JW sooner than I thought they would. I got a call from him on the 17th of July. He sounded good on the phone and he asked me if I could come and get him so we could visit awhile and talk.
The facility released him before he wanted to be released. When he got home his attitude was pretty negative. His mom told him that ROBAR had bought him a bible. He could of cared less and made some derogatory comment about bible thumpers. Then his mom told him that there was a card with the bible and he needed to read it.
That card that I felt led to purchase for some reason made all the difference in the world. JW read the words the Lord had me write. His whole demeanor and attitude toward me changed. He felt that I was really genuine just because of the card.
I traveled to his home to get him. The man I saw was not the same man I remember from the numerous times I had shared with his younger brother when he was present. He had lost a ton of weight and was much, much more outspoken. It took me a moment to confirm that he was in fact the same man.
I took him to my house and the sharing was real good. Sharing with his brother had always been luke warm, but JW soaked up everything I shared with him. He was hungry to learn and by all appearances was a good student and was serious about trying to change his life.
We left his house about 5pm. He wanted to go to an AA meeting that night, so I took him and stayed at the meeting with him. The meeting was good. JW saw one of his old sponsors from long before. It was almost like old home week. I took JW home after the meeting and stayed visiting until about 11pm.
That night in my diary I wrote:
"In bed. ThankYou Lord Jesus for the day. Thank You for JW. Please continue to help him on his journey and protect him. Do a miracle in his life Lord and truly help him pass through the narrow gate and train his sword well. Inspire him to listen to the little red radio and feed him necessary nourishment. ThankYou Lord Jesus for hearing my prayer."
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