Post by Brother Ben on Sept 29, 2008 7:58:06 GMT -5
I have a Christian brother named John whom I've met on the internet. He shared this testimony and I wanted to pass it along so we could bind together in prayer for this dear family. Please share this with other prayer groups that you are involved with this is NOT one of those unsubstantiated internet trama stories, this really happened.
................John's letter......................
August turned out to be a horrible month for my family and I.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 10, around 1 a.m., our oldest son tore the screen out of his bedroom window, climbed out on the flat roof, jumped off, got his bike and ran away from home. All of this with no warning and with nothing seeming out of the ordinary.
I drove over a hundred miles that Sunday looking for him. The police, volunteer firemen and others were looking as well, along with our pastor sending out an emergency email for prayers and assistance.
Our son was found nearly 30 miles away Monday (11th) morning in a Wal-Mart. When we were informed we went to the sherrifs station to get him. Once there we were informed our son was claiming abuse! Thus one heart-wrenching nightmare was over and another beginning.
My wife and I spent the day being interviewed by police and social workers. They didn't like that almost everything my wife and I said didn't match what our oldest son was telling them. Near the end of the afternoon they began asking about spanking, to which I told the truth, to which they all looked shocked. That seemed to be enough for them. They stopped talking about all the outrageous claims our son had made (such as being constantly choked, kicked, punched and stuff like that).
At about this same time they managed to confuse and trick my wife into signing an order of protection against me which effectively banned me from my own house and family for three weeks. As it turns out, my wife thought she was simply signing a form saying she understood what our oldest had aledged and she thought she had to sign the form because he was a minor.
After realizing the tragedy the protective order was causing all of us my wife tried to get the order dropped but the judge refused to consider the issue until the original order expired on the 29th. In the meantime, my wife nearly lost her job at the bakery because of this since there was no one to watch the children.
As well, during this time I was under serious stress and didn't realize the medication I had take previous to this happening hadn't cured what was ailing me before. Eventually, on the 21st, this landed me in the hospital because of a large kidney stone lodged into the wall of something that had become infected. I was in the hospital until the 24th fighting the infection and high temperatures. On 9-11 I have to return to the hospital to have the large stone blasted.
Now we are under weekly home visitations from the social workers until sometime in October at which time the visits are to become less than weekly. I've been ordered to take "anger management" classes even though there has been no alegation or evidence of me having an anger problem. They also want our oldest son to undergo counseling but they won't approve a Christian counselor unless he has certain specific lisencing.
Paying for the extra 12 to 25 dollars for gas to drive back and forth for these meetings, while it doesn't sound like much, will actually put a major strain on our already strained budget.
This, plus my wife needs surgery on her right knee and that will mean more travel expenses and she will be unable to work for several weeks; at least.
They have placed our oldest son in the public high school and are pressuring us to get our youngest son in the public school.
Thankfully, our pastor has stood by our side mightily through all of this and has done all he could to be of help and comfort. I can't even imagine having to face all of this without the Lord and our pastor!
Anyway, that's a quick rundown of what has struck our family and why I have been away...
.........................end....................
This is so grievous and we need to hold this family up in serious prayer.
Bro Ben
................John's letter......................
August turned out to be a horrible month for my family and I.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 10, around 1 a.m., our oldest son tore the screen out of his bedroom window, climbed out on the flat roof, jumped off, got his bike and ran away from home. All of this with no warning and with nothing seeming out of the ordinary.
I drove over a hundred miles that Sunday looking for him. The police, volunteer firemen and others were looking as well, along with our pastor sending out an emergency email for prayers and assistance.
Our son was found nearly 30 miles away Monday (11th) morning in a Wal-Mart. When we were informed we went to the sherrifs station to get him. Once there we were informed our son was claiming abuse! Thus one heart-wrenching nightmare was over and another beginning.
My wife and I spent the day being interviewed by police and social workers. They didn't like that almost everything my wife and I said didn't match what our oldest son was telling them. Near the end of the afternoon they began asking about spanking, to which I told the truth, to which they all looked shocked. That seemed to be enough for them. They stopped talking about all the outrageous claims our son had made (such as being constantly choked, kicked, punched and stuff like that).
At about this same time they managed to confuse and trick my wife into signing an order of protection against me which effectively banned me from my own house and family for three weeks. As it turns out, my wife thought she was simply signing a form saying she understood what our oldest had aledged and she thought she had to sign the form because he was a minor.
After realizing the tragedy the protective order was causing all of us my wife tried to get the order dropped but the judge refused to consider the issue until the original order expired on the 29th. In the meantime, my wife nearly lost her job at the bakery because of this since there was no one to watch the children.
As well, during this time I was under serious stress and didn't realize the medication I had take previous to this happening hadn't cured what was ailing me before. Eventually, on the 21st, this landed me in the hospital because of a large kidney stone lodged into the wall of something that had become infected. I was in the hospital until the 24th fighting the infection and high temperatures. On 9-11 I have to return to the hospital to have the large stone blasted.
Now we are under weekly home visitations from the social workers until sometime in October at which time the visits are to become less than weekly. I've been ordered to take "anger management" classes even though there has been no alegation or evidence of me having an anger problem. They also want our oldest son to undergo counseling but they won't approve a Christian counselor unless he has certain specific lisencing.
Paying for the extra 12 to 25 dollars for gas to drive back and forth for these meetings, while it doesn't sound like much, will actually put a major strain on our already strained budget.
This, plus my wife needs surgery on her right knee and that will mean more travel expenses and she will be unable to work for several weeks; at least.
They have placed our oldest son in the public high school and are pressuring us to get our youngest son in the public school.
Thankfully, our pastor has stood by our side mightily through all of this and has done all he could to be of help and comfort. I can't even imagine having to face all of this without the Lord and our pastor!
Anyway, that's a quick rundown of what has struck our family and why I have been away...
.........................end....................
This is so grievous and we need to hold this family up in serious prayer.
Bro Ben
