By Steve Fleshman
On behalf of our Life Issues team, I would like to extend a heart-felt THANK YOU to all those who helped to make our 5th Annual Recovery Walk Fundraiser such a huge success! Our team of volunteers and students were able to collect about $13,000 in pledges, and we had 106 walkers and another 100 people at the finish-line activities. There was a sweet spirit that night as we walked and worked together for a cause bigger than ourselves, namely addiction recovery. I’m humbled that businesses and individuals poured out their support to us and through us; it makes me feel like there are many who believe in what we’re doing and that God’s good hand is upon us. So, I pledge to you to continue to use our resources wisely and to keep my hand to the plow in the recovery field, so that we can keep “making a difference” until Jesus comes!
Even though this was our 5th annual recovery walk, the Lord put an event like this on my heart about 3-4 years before the first one, while I was leading the Prisoners of Hope (POH) jail ministry. As I drove by the jail one evening about 8-9 years ago, I thought about the symbolic idea of going from jail to church, i.e. from a place of bondage to a place of freedom. It has been rewarding for me to see this idea become a reality, and to be a community partner with the Cass County Drug Court, other churches, other organizations, and another recovery group; it’s exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think (Eph. 3:20).
To this day, I almost always think of Proverbs 20:29a as I drive by the Cass County Justice Center, which says “The glory of young men is their strength…” That verse makes me think of all the strength that is in bondage within those jail walls (men and women), that is being wasted; strength of mind, strength of body, and strength of will! We’re seeing a few of these precious souls, and others, walk through HBF’s doors, seeking truth and desiring to be made free, so please join me in praying for fruit and fruit that remains from our efforts, realizing that, but for the grace of God, there go I.