The Thin Edge

In my last update, I was thrilled to report Jessica’s (not her real name) progress going into the holiday season. My wife and I were honored to join her family for Christmas dinner at Betel’s town center church in Birmingham, England. We drove two hours on Sunday morning, 23 December 2007, and eventually found our way there. Over 200 people gathered for the occasion and shared a wonderful meal cooked by “the boys” from Betel’s men’s program. As I sat there watching families relish those few hours of joyful reunion with their wayward sons, daughters, and spouses, it occurred to me that I had never been in one place with so many drug addicts, ex-offenders, alcoholics, and prostitutes. Jesus loved to party with people like this—the broken and the outcast—and it was thrilling to meet many of them and hear their stories.

Sadly our new friend, Jessica, made the decision to leave Betel’s drug rehabilitation program nearly four weeks later. We’re not sure what triggered this action, because she spoke to us at Christmas about staying at Betel for at least two years and her mother was due to visit again in only forty-eight hours. There was a twenty-four-hour period where no one knew her whereabouts, so it was a very tense and worrisome time. Everyone was disappointed, especially her family, but we were more concerned with her physical safety.

The next day she appeared at her father’s house, having taken the bus back home to Pontypridd. My assumption is that she was so embarrassed by her decision that she did not want to face her mother and step-father. Anyway, her father and his partner did their best to monitor and restrict Jessica’s movements, her contacts with old friends, and any situation that might lead her back into the nightmare of heroin and prostitution; however, this past Monday she left their home and was last seen in Cardiff getting into the car with a couple of young men. No one knows who they are, why Jessica went with them, or where she is living at the moment.

Would you pray that Jesus, the Great Shepherd, would guide and protect Jessica as she wanders far from home and love and family? And if she falls—almost a certainty apart from divine intervention—please pray that she will remember the safe environment that gave her a taste of real freedom from drugs: a place of unconditional love, a network of friends who loved and supported her, and a place where “tough love” provided time and space for her healing.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for Jessica! The good news is this: a large percentage of first-time residents at Betel do drop out in the first six months, but a great number return when they get into trouble again. And of those who return to Betel, a much higher success rate is seen. So we’re hoping for a good outcome, in spite of this setback!