I am always amazed at the impact that the Pacific Garden Mission has had on not only the individuals we serve, but also on generations to come. I came across this story* that was encouraging and is at the heart of who we are.

Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up

Ten more minutes and my wife would have never been born. The story that changed everything is hope for any of us who love someone who’s making some very bad choices. My wife’s grandfather, Bill, had given up on life. Trashing a profitable career for the alcohol and cocaine he could not resist. He was labeled with a prison record, he was penniless, he was hopeless and he was suicidal.

And that night, as he walked South State Street in downtown Chicago, he was minutes away from Lake Michigan where he’d decided to end it all. One thing saved him. A mother who had never given up on him. There, on the street, he heard the song, the one his mother used to sing to him. It was coming from the rescue mission he had just passed. Something made him stop and go inside. And there a caring mission worker shared a Bible verse that has probably changed more lives than any other. The worker started, “For God so loved the world that He gave . . .” Suddenly, Bill finished it. “. . . His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Somewhere in the long-clouded corners of his memory, he could hear his mother teaching him those words.

And that night—minutes away from ending his life—he found life. He never touched or wanted alcohol or drugs from that night on. And he spent the rest of his life bringing the hope he'd found to forgotten people across the country. And now three generations Bill never met are here, and they're living and spreading that same hope because of one man's choice that night.

Know that you are not only supporting those who are here but those who are yet to come. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support.

*A Word With You #10203 “Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up.”
Ron Hutchcraft, Hutchcraft Ministries