Tuesday, January 28th, 2025
Don’t Steal a Police Car, Part 2
For the next eight months, I met with Cate every Monday for 45 minutes. She was now saved but needed to be discipled, and she needed to learn the essentials of Scripture. We also talked about her court hearings that popped up every couple of months as the justice system moved along at its normal pace for cases such as this one—slow, very slow.
Her behavior in jail was exemplary once she became saved. The guards were amazed at the difference in her. She visited with the chaplain (me) every Monday. Every Sunday found her in church services both in the morning and in the afternoon. Whatever Bible studies there were for women, she was there. Whatever other Christian presentations or gatherings there were, you could find her in the audience. She signed up for a Teen Challenge drug program that met in the jail on Wednesdays for a couple of hours. Her hope was that she could get a downward departure for her eventual prison sentence and be sent to Teen Challenge in Minneapolis for 13 months, and then be out on probation.
We talked about what she should say at her court hearings and who she should get to testify or write letters to the court on her behalf; I wouldn’t be doing that because a chaplain does not get personally involved in the machinery of an ongoing adjudication of a criminal case. Encouragement and counsel yes, actual involvement no. Cate also had a case worker giving her advice.
She had a hunger for learning Scripture and read with due diligence the assignments I gave her each week to discuss the following week. Every time she danced through the door of the meeting room, I asked her the same question, “Who are you Cate?” And every time she answered with the same words and the same grin on her face, “I am a child of God.”
I became convinced that the transformation of Cate was so complete and the support for her so great that the judge would grant her the departure of her sentence and allow her to go to Teen Challenge for a year instead of prison. She and I talked about it and prayed about it. And then the day of her sentencing arrived. We were hopeful for the outcome. But …
You don’t steal a police car. There was no mercy shown. Cate was sentenced to one year in prison followed by a lengthy parole. I never heard from her again and had no idea of what happened to her when she was released and whether she got her kids back, until …
a request was made to a Monday noon prayer meeting at our church to pray for requests from church members and calls into the church office. I am regular member of that group, and there it was: “Would you please pray for my mother who is undergoing [a health issue]”, and it was signed by Cate [and her last name]. I found out from the church office what her phone number was and gave her a call. When she answered the phone, the first thing I asked was, “Who are you Cate?” And she immediately answered, “I am a child of God.” And so she is. She has her children back and is living an active Christian life of dependence on God and involvement in a church.
January 28th, 2025 at 7:14 pm
Pat,
A wonderful story of redemption & God’s Grace! PTL.