Who better to encourage

This afternoon I spent some time with Jerry one of the teens we have been helping out over the past year or so. Jerry is working right now, and he has talked to me about understanding life even more now. As we were talking I told Jerry that someone had mailed him a letter and that it was at my house so he came over to my house to get it.


As we were walking downtown, on the way to my house, we passed a father and daughter. The daughter was probably about eight years old and she skipped along the sidewalk. She had a big smile on her face as she looked up to her dad and the big buildings around her. I made the comment to Jerry that it would be nice to have our kids not have to get older than eight or so because at that age life can be so easy. The reality for a lot of kids is that as they grow older life is not so easy. Jerry agreed that life was much less difficult when he was little.


Back to the story. Jerry and I arrived at my home and I gave Jerry the letter addressed to him. It was from a girl he knew from the past year. Jerry had talked to this fellow teen who was struggling with addiction about checking herself into rehab. Jerry opened the letter and read it very quietly. He asked me if I wanted to read it. I said I would if he wanted me to. He insisted that I do.


It was a beautiful letter. In it she thanked Jerry for always being there for her. She thanked him for being such a close friend and for believing in her when no one else did. She thanked him for pointing her to rehab and thanked him that her life was now on track. She went on to encourage him to do the right things and to surround himself with good friends that don`t use drugs. It was powerful!


I thanked Jerry for being there for her. I was very proud of Jerry for his input in this young ladies life. I thought to myself who better to encourage Jerry than someone who has walked that same road. Never, ever give up on people.