3103 Jerry Beaver

Odell’s childhood is horrible: his father beats him and leaves him with uncles; his uncles give him marijuana; his mother vanishes periodically. Sent to a school for kids with behavior problems, he does well but goes back to drugs. He quits school to work, gets involved with Loretta who cannot be faithful and they come and go in each other’s lives. He loses his driver’s license, goes to jail and there a man comes and tells him about Jesus. Put on probation, he tries to stop sinning then gets angry at God when Loretta again fails him. The first part ends when his mother commits suicide and with Loretta expecting his child.

The middle child in a large religious family in Indiana, Sandy is mocked for staying pure in high school. Anxious and withdrawn, in college she rooms with a woman who gently leads her to Christ. When she gains the courage to tell her parents, they question the radical change in her. After graduating, she stays with the ministry Navigators, working in Peoria and then Colorado Springs, where she remains single. At 39 she helps the ministry with a conference where she meets Randy and they begin a long-distance relationship. Her story ends as he’s about to tell her his testimony.

After his salvation, Rob throws away the alcohol and drugs, and his wife Gail is enraged. She comes and goes, taking and leaving their daughter, then gets pregnant by someone else, but he accepts and loves the 2nd daughter. Their marriage ends when she slashes his clothes and stabs him. She takes everything. He tries to understand but turns from the faith after the divorce. Finally, he repents and gets custody of the girls, meets “Rose” and they marry. He witnesses to his dad before his dad dies. Rob is still faithful.

The oldest of 11 children, Rob learns at age 16 that his dad is not his real father. His mother admits that she wanted to abort him. His parents trick him into working to save money for a car, then take the car he buys. He gets even by exposing their dishonesty at work. He gets his own home, but drinks & does drugs, falls into depression and lives with an unstable girl, much like his mother. When she gets pregnant, he marries her, is miserable but loves their daughter. He hears the gospel at work, and the first part ends as he prays for salvation.

Marion grows up in Christian home but turns from the Lord as a teenager. She becomes a surgical nurse but begins drinking after graduation and cannot stop. When alcohol affects her professionally, she resigns from nursing, tries counseling and A.A. but cannot quit. Her mother continues to pray for her. Marion meets Jimmy, another drunk and they marry. After five years and nearly dying of alcoholism, Marion prays to Christ. Jimmy surrenders after five months. She returns to nursing at the county hospital that saved her life.

Homeless by choice at 15, Butch manages to elude reform school, unlike his two older brothers. His mother tries but cannot help him. His older brother dies from drinking-induced pneumonia. Panhandling, he meets a woman who sends him and friends to a mission. He leaves, then returns nine times. His drunkenness leads to crime, and he is stabbed in the stomach but lives. His mother goes to the mission, is saved and prays for him. Finally, he is given one last chance and surrenders to Christ. While blind, he gets his GED, college and master’s degrees.

Karen’s father is an alcoholic who beats her mother. He abandons them when she’s four, and she spends her life longing for a reconciliation. He wants nothing to do with them even when he’s dying. Karen’s grandmother loves the Lord and takes her to church, but Karen becomes an alcoholic during a first, failed marriage. She weds Bud and they adopt children. Working at a crisis pregnancy center, Karen gets saved, but her addiction ends only when she surrenders to Christ six months later. By phone, she leads her father in a prayer of salvation. Still at the pregnancy center.

Growing up, Jerry comes between his stepdad and Mom when they fight. He becomes a brawler as a teenager, drinking, crashing his car while drunk. He plays the bass guitar in a small band, wants to be a rock star and writes songs. Looking for lyrics, he searches the Bible, then reads Revelation and is scared. He quits drinking, reads the Bible and goes to a coworker’s church, where he is saved. He becomes a soul-winner and goes to Bible college. On a trip home, his mother confesses that she tried to abort him. Now a pastor.

His alcoholic mother abandons the family when Bruce is eight, and his dad puts him in an orphanage for two years. Bruce has a speech problem. When he goes home, his sister and he break into churches. He goes to juvenile lockup till he’s 16, where he learns to work hard. Back home he marries reluctantly at 21. His wife and he pray with some Christians, but salvation would come later. Their marriage breaks up because of her infidelity, Bruce swallows drain cleaner. His life is spared but he loses his stomach and esophagus. He consumes alcohol in his feeding tube. Finally, he comes to Christ and now ministers to other addicts.

Fenton is adopted from an orphanage at age four. His new dad abandons them when Fenton is 11. He fails two grades: first and fourth, but he’s saved at camp when he’s 17. He serves the Lord eagerly. After the army he marries Carol. They go to Bible college, have two children, and he teaches and stays busy in Christian service. His daughter turns from the faith taught to her. Fenton resigns from the pastorate but becomes a chaplain. He and Carol continue to serve the Lord in unique ways.