Testimony of Healing August 19, 2002 Issue

Threatening situation resolved

Michele Newport

We had an experience with a young man coming into our life. Let's call him Jim. We didn't really know him, but we agreed to take him into our home—much against our better judgement—to accommodate a family member's request. Jim's presence created immediate tension in our home because he was a very angry teenager—almost 20. He had been raised in a very violent home and he began to take his anger out on us. Although he was very polite, he tried to manipulate and drive a wedge between the members of our family.

More and more we found ourselves drawn into the dramas in his life. For example, unbeknownst to us, he was somewhat involved with gang members and their activities. We discovered this one evening when we got an emergency call from the hospital. He had been seriously wounded in a gang confrontation. Since he was estranged completely from his own family, we felt we should step forward and try to help him. Unfortunately, he began to take advantage of our good intentions. And although I was praying about how to best help him, I was also trying to become a surrogate mother. I would spend hours driving him to job interviews, to the unemployment office and to return doctor visits. Before long, it seemed that Jim and his difficulties were taking over our lives.

Within a few weeks of the hospital experience, we realized we needed to take Jim back to his own mother. We took him home, but he was back out on the streets the next day. And this is when he began to harass us. Day and night—especially at night, all night when he was out on the street—he would call and hang up. Often we took the phone off the hook or tried other devices to avoid his calls, but to no avail. He also sent very hateful letters, and threatened to take his own life. By this time we were dealing with some fear about the situation, but we realized we were dealing with something very serious and urgent when he called to say that he had arranged for a drive-by shooting. Through a maze of telephone calls with various people, we confirmed that he meant what he said.

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