Ramel

It's no secret that criminality often runs in families and that criminal patterns of behavior are frequently passed down from generation to generation. It's also no secret that it is very difficult to break the chain, and that it is almost impossible for a child to do so.

This summer we learned of a young man who desired to attend a Young Life Summer Program in our community. He was from a well known drug family and yet, against all odds, he had made a decision for Christ. Against all odds, he wanted to break the chains, he wanted to grow and mature. He wanted a new life.

Of course, his family wasn't very supportive and although they had sufficient funds to pay the associated cost of attending the Young Life summer program, they refused to do so.

Several Christian families in our neighborhood bonded together to pool our resources and paid the $400 plus dollars for that young man to attend the Young Life Summer Camp.

Yesterday our family received a thank you note from the young man. Going to camp, he said, made last summer the best summer of his life.

I cried when I read his letter.

I cried because ours is a God whose love still penetrates the most hardened hearts among us, hearts like mine. I cried because God's love still reaches into the darkest of places to pull goodness and humanity into the light, like His love has done in my life. I cried because a young man's life was made better by a small group of people who cared enough to sacrifice a few bucks to benefit another. I cried because it was such a small sacrifice and yet God somehow used it in a powerful and life changing way.

Today I am praying for that young man. If you feel so inclined I invite you to pray as well. His name is Ramel. He is a beloved child of the most high God and in my book, he is a hero. He's a hero because he's daring to break the chains, he's daring to embrace the freedom that a new life in Christ offers to him.

Dear Ramel, although you most probably will never know this. I'm praying for you, I am so praying Ramel. God bless you.