2 Corinthians 5:16-17
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!
I think it was back in 1960 that I was a County Juvenile Probation Officer. Three teenage girls had repeatedly been arrested by local authorities — they had fled from the officers so many times they were known as the gazelles. As a last effort to deal with their delinquency, the judge ordered them to be confined in the Youth Training Center several hundred miles away.
The Judge had me transport them, so along with my wife Joyce, we began the trip. The deputies had placed leg restraints on the girls to keep them from escaping. A few miles out of town, however, I stopped and asked the three if we could make the trip as a family rather than treating them as prisoners. They readily agreed and we had no problem. By the time we arrived at the facility, we all felt like family.
A few days ago I saw an obituary for a man whose name sounded familiar. As I looked down the list of survivors I saw he had a sister who had the same name as one of those girls. I was able to find her phone number and called. Amazingly she said it was her and vividly recalled the trip. Her life was turned around and she was a changed woman. Did I say woman? On the trip she was about 15, she now is approaching 70. How time flies!
We all have opportunities to impact others we come in contact with. Never neglect to spend time with young people. Let them know you are there for them. Perhaps you will be the only family they will ever have.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil