Always more to the story...

Agent Wife and I moved into a modest sized house that we bought on Undercover Lane here in the fair mother city 3 years ago this Spring. This was a huge answer to prayer...two YEARS of prayer. Before that point we lived in an efficiency apartment that I rented a year before we were married. Once married, we tripped and stumbled into what some call "ministry", and therefore, financial insecurity, but the CEO took care of us just fine. Thus, we could never afford to get out of the efficiency.

Then the prayers were answered. In a moments notice we were completely out of financial debt. And within 5 months the CEO opened he doors for us to move into this house and hopefully start a family. Coincidentally, the move happened 3 months after my former employment with the church ended, but they were still paying me (a severance package?) for the following 6 months. This all worked out on paper with the banks for the mortgage, since I had a solid income, even though we knew that the great unknown was around the corner. All this to say...we KNOW that we KNOW the CEO put us in this house, on this street, in this neighborhood, at this place in time for a reason. We just didn't know what that reason or reasons were other than we wanted a house. And thank God, we got one now and thank him for it every day.

Well, I've written about Obi-Wan, the Sanfords, and countless others since this agent report started 6 months ago. I have yet to write about Terry and his 2 kids Jason (13) and Sally (11). They were a big part of our lives until last May when they disappeared from our street never to be seen again...until today....

In all my days at the izzy ministry, never had I seen a family situation as destitute as Terry's. And I thought I've seen it all: parents & kids who live on the streets and out of cars, etc.

The whole neighborhood knew young Jason & Sally. Kids always get around. Plus, they always looked kind of poor and dirty and people take notice of that. Plus Sally was a major clepto and liar and people really take notice of that. Besides Sally's problems, they were real sweet and innocent kids. They lived with their dad Terry, who had a real hard core drug addiction and lived in constant denial. But the family had some stability in their life as they lived with Grandma in her house down our street.

Then a year later, Grandma, who had slowly developed Alzheimers, was put into a nursing home in a nearby small town. And all home-life stability left with grandma. Within a few months, various utilities would be turned off due to unpaid bills by Terry and his irresponsibility. They showered at various neighbor's homes, including ours. Terry managed to rig up the electric each time it was cut off. So finally the electric company completely removed the cable to his house.

It was horrible. It was like they were homeless and camping out in an abandoned house on our street. The house looked like a wreck - a physical representation of Terry's life, I guess. I wouldn't care so much if a guy chose to live this way. Except he had 2 kids in his care. It got to where Jason & Sally were going door to door asking for food to eat and carrying baskets of laundry to be washed.

And of course with Jason and Sally being in the public school system, teachers take notice of their situation and CPS (Child Protective Services) get involved. I'm not a huge fan of CPS but they are a necessary evil in our society. Yet Terry managed to stay one step ahead of them at all times. And the kids were the ones suffering.

When school ended last May, Terry Jason & Sally disappeared for good. I asked the neighborhood kids and no one had seen them. Agent Wife and I had walked with them, prayed for them, and spent our lives with them for months then they were gone without a trace. They just abandoned the house.

Then today as we were returning from Agent Offspring's routine doctor visit we see Terry riding a bike down our street. It blew us away. He looked great. Even smelled good. He told me he's been at the Salvation Army in one of their detox programs and was doing well. He graduates next month. We plan to be there. The kids are in foster care now and he seems OK with that. He loves his kids. Now that drugs aren't clouding his judgment, he sees what's best for them.

Thank you lord for bringing Terry into our lives today...and showing us the rest of the story.