A Day in the Life

So today was not quite like every other day but not really all that different.....
It was my day to update probation officers with my monthly fax as to individual client's attendance, participation and progress. Besides doing that and sending 30+ faxes, I also updated my mailing list for inmates that I met at county prison who are now at state or federal prison. Our family will be on vacation from June 7th to 14th and I want to send these men and women a postcard. This carries several functions including: they know I'm thinking of them and they have a postcard photo to hang on they're wall to remind them that I love them.

In the midst of that I received a call from a 32 year old man I met over 2 years ago in Lancaster County Prison. He said "Dave I love you, I want to thank you for all you did for me and I want to say goodbye." I asked, "Where are you going?" He said "To hell I guess... I lost my wife, my family and my job...I'm going to kill myself." Then he hung up and did not answer my repeated calls to his cell phone.

What would you do? This is a young man that has found the Lord and who has been praying for reconciliation with his wife and 3 young children he lost to his cocaine addiction and incarceration. I personally met with his wife and in-laws a couple of times.

Long story short, after much prayer I called 911 and also crisis intervention and 302'd him. As I write this he is in Lancaste Genral Hospital on the 302 and he is stuggling to grasp if I rejected him or loved him through my actions. I ask for your prayers that he grasps the depth of my love and the Father's love through this ordeal. I have seen far to many men and women die in their addiction during my years in this ministry. I have had to inform far too many parents of the death oftheir son or daughter. I have heard way to many parents tell me "they died to me years ago when they chose drugs!"

I ask for your prayers and invite your email comments at david.hain@gmail.com or phone calls at 717-806-1891. Please pray for this young man as he perseveres through this crisis and God builds Christlike character in him.

Oh, by the way, I had several phone calls from a tearful mom who had received repeated calls from her 18 year old son who was on day 4 at a 28 day rehab for ketamine and other drug abuse. He was badgering his mom with words that made her feel unworhty as a mom if she didin't drive to pick up her son who thought he knew better than his counselors and wanted to leave the rehab to "get back to reality!"

Oh by the way again,... This was less than 24 hours afte numerous late night phone calls from a local pastor who wanted advice on what to say to parents as a response to their 20 year old daughter who announced that she was leaving to move 600 miles away with her boyfriend. Just a side note....the boyfriend had just bought $400 worth of heroin to take along because he "wouldn't know ehre tobuy it in this new state."

The devil is a liar!!!! Revelation 18:23 says that Babylon will be cast down because by her sorcery all nations were deceived. The Greek word for sorcery is pharmekeia. We are living in that time of deception!! Will you join us in prayer and in the battle? We need your prayers...your insight from God...and your support as God stirs in your heart to finacially support the expansion of this ministry.

God Touching Addicts' Hearts

As we minister to addicts in group meetings or as we share God's heart for addicts in workshops, we almost always use songs that God has placed in the heart of gifted musicians. Many of you are familiar with popular songs which speak into addiction like Does Anybody Hear Her?, The Altar and the Door, and Slow Fade by Casting Crowns. Probably many of you have also heard songs like Breathrough and When I Don't Know What to Do by Tommy Walker. However, I would guess that very few of you have heard of Keith Naylor or his group ASIAM.

For years I had used Keith Naylor's song Spring Street as short term mission teams would come to Philadelphia to minister with us on the streets. Most of the people coming on these mission trips would arrive convinced they were "bringing Jesus" to Philadelphia. The challenge that we gave these missionaries was to "find Jesus" on the streets, in abandoned homes, in crack houses, in His children caught in the snare of addiction. The lyrics to the song Spring Street are an awesome portrayal of this call on each of us as we minister in addiction.

God speaks powerfully and lovingly through the words of Keith Naylor's music as we play his songs at the beginning of groups in prison and at our office. In Lancater County Prison whether the group is men or women we always need to have several rolls of toilet paper available to wipe the tears that begin to flow as the inmates are touched by the lyrics.

Keith's song Is There Love begins with the emptiness of young woman caught in addiction and ends with an alcoholic under a neon sign. Like all addicts, they are "looking for a touch that will cleanse their soul" and "make them whole." In the song Footsteps, Keith hauntingly introduces us to the loss of innocence and pain of sexual abuse of children. In each of his songs, Keith Naylor weaves the hope of Jesus Christ as the love, the healing, the wholeness, the restoration that is so desperately needed by everyone in addiction. The song A Flower Grows promises that "in this decayed and dying soul, a flower grows."

If you haven't heard Keith Naylor's music, I urge you to seek it out online. You will truly be blessed. If you facilitate groups at your church or other places, I want to encourage you to watch God work as you utilize this music in your ministry. If you wish you had groups available in your area, please contact us at david.hain@gmail.com. We'd love to come and help get groups started. Our ministry's mission is to share the passion that He has placed in our hearts to set His children free from the bondage of addiction.

I mentioned Keith's group ASIAM at the beginning of this blog update. I'd like to close with excerpts from their song As I Am. As you read the words, can you hear God's heart for His children...your brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, spouses, neighbors...searching for something to make them feel whole?

As I Am from the CD Living in the Forever Now

And as I am my mind is broken
As I am my heart is cold
As I am my life is only shattered pieces
And pieces that are worn
As I am, As I am

And as I am my dreams they've fallen
As I am my failure's strong
As I am my hope for sacrificial loving
Is calloused by my lust for what is wrong
As I am, as I am

...
And as I am my words they're empty
...
As I am behind this mask of strength and courage
Is only a lost and broken soul
...
As I think about my life without Your hope
...
And I think about this life and all it's blackness
Cause in Your eyes, in Your eyes
As I am is whole