Charles had clean since his son was born 4 years ago. They had never been apart for more than an 8-hour shift and were best buds. But family and job difficulties recently led to a relapse for Charles. After a month of using, he arrived at Helping Up Mission for our 12-month residential Spiritual Recovery Program.
For the first couple of months here, Charles had not seen his boy, and he would regularly write on the prayer sheet, “please soften my ex-wife’s heart and allow me to see my son.”
At the same time, he also got to speak to one of the lawyers who comes here and offers legal support. With his help, Charles went to court for the right to regularly see his son.
Within 2 weeks Charles had a hearing and is now allowed to see his boy for 3 hours once a week, as long as he is in this Program.
So his wife now brings their son to Helping Up Mission each weekend and the two guys spend time together. The little guy loves trains, so their first week they rode around on the light-rail and went to the inner harbor and fed the ducks.
Both father and son are pretty happy to see each other again. It doesn’t seem to take much to make either of them happy – just to be together is enough! God is good and Charles is grateful.
Appreciating one day at a time,
Pastor Gary Byers
Spiritual Life Director