JOE IN THE DOCK I sat in the Wright County courtroom from 1-3 p.m. yesterday, awaiting the hearing for Joe, one of the inmates I’m mentoring. He was brought in with shackles on his wrists and ankles, clothed with prison garb, and led to the dock of the courtroom, a secured place to the right […]
JOSEPH’S TURNAROUND Joe, who a month ago was a worldly self-sufficient Christian incarcerated in a county jail, called me ridiculous Pat because I told him he was filled with the world and himself. He didn’t want to hear the truth. I prayed for Joe and I think some of you did as well, and now […]
FOR THOSE WHO BOW DOWN BEFORE HIM Do you remember Joe, who stormed out of a meeting at the jail after I told him I couldn’t help him because he hadn’t turned his life over to God in all aspects. He’s the one who called me “Ridiculous Pat.” Well, I visited him yesterday, and he […]
FEAR OF THE LORD Mr. Beaver about Aslan: “Of course he’s not safe. But he’s good.” Various people in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis were afraid when they encountered Aslan face to face. After all, he was a powerful lion and mighty in deed. So too it is with God. If (and certainly […]
PRAISE THE LORD I just received a call from the Park View Care Center in Buffalo. Marvin Schaar, the man with muscular dystrophy I’ve been visiting for the past seven years, passed away at 6:30 this morning. It was beyond time for him to go. He was a vibrant man who was 6’4” and 210 […]
LITTLE ALICE “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14 Grandchildren are one of God’s greatest blessings. They are among the little children Jesus was talking about in Matthew 19:14. Little Alice graduated from kindergarten this past Monday. My wife and I were there to witness her […]
PRAY FOR JOE AND YOURSELVES I have been visiting Joe in a county jail once a week for the past few months. He is a hardheaded and angry young man who sees himself as a victim of the legal system and not as the perpetrator of a crime. You see, Joe has accepted Jesus Christ […]
TYLER GRADUATED!!! Remember I told you Tyler had a difficult time finishing what he started. The last thing he completed was high school, and that was by the skin of his teeth. Yesterday, he became certified as a Peer Specialist with 100 % attendance and A’s in all his coursework. He aced his final test […]
TYLER GOES TO SCHOOL Tyler has signed up for a nine-month Computer Support Specialist program at the Takoda Institute of Higher Education in Minneapolis. While going to school, he is able to stay at the New Hope Center, less than a mile away. In May, he will be graduating from the eight-month rehab program he […]
God’s Pocket Last Friday, as I left a medical clinic in Buffalo, I came across a grizzled, old black man sitting on a bench with what I assumed was all his worldly possessions in a large duffle bag. What was his story, I wondered? Where had he been? Where was he going? I didn’t ask […]