Chipping away hurts......

Matt 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" In this ministry we have to chip away alot of hurts these boys have carried. Some of their hurts consist of....death of their father....divorce....rejection from their father.....cut down....beat down....etc. We try to teach them about the ONE that cares about the birdies and says we are more valuable than they.

I am so blessed to have had close to 40 boys (besides our own children) live in our home over the last 18 years and give them a hug (very few nights did I miss), tell them I love them and be able to see walls start to come down slowly in each of their lives. Andy just completed the program the other day and about three days before he was ready to leave, these are the words I said. "Andy, guess what you have 3 days to try to say those 3 words to me." He say's I know. Most boys after at the ranch a couple months are able to say those 3 words but I had never heard them come out of Andy's mouth in the three years he was with us. So the next night I gave him his hug and I said, "2 days!" He again said, "I know." Well the day that he left our house I gave him his hug and I said, "I love you Andy!" He turned around and said, "I love you, too Cathy." That was huge because you see Andy had huge divot's in his heart when he came to the ranch 3 years ago. His dad passed away about 2 years before he came to the ranch and about a week later his Grandpa passed away. He had a hard time getting close to anyone because he was afraid to lose them. God worked a huge miracle in Andy's life while at the ranch.

If this story touched your heart maybe you would want to CHIP in and PUTT down your guess on the pledge form for the Birdies for Charity. If you did this I'm sure the ONE who thinks you also are worth more than the Birdies will Bless you! Just click on this link and print off the form, either mail it to the Boys Ranch at Miracles Can Happen Boys Ranch; 1614 300th Street; Wilton, IA 52778 by June 28th or mail it into the address on the form to Birdies for Charity by July 5th. Make sure you put the name of the ranch and our Bird # is 596 on the form. The Birdies for Charity will bill you later so don't worry about sending in the money with the form. Thanks so much if you feel God speaking to your heart and you give in this way. Things like this is what keeps the doors of this place open.

Blessed to know HE loves me even more than the BIRDIES!