Story by Verna Stutzman

Cedar Hill, TX
Dec 7, 2000

Pictures of Jeremy

Picture 1 of Jeremy in Ukarumpa, PNG (1990):

“Hi, my name is Verna Stutzman. I don’t believe I’ve met you.”

The older lady responded, “I’m Mary Hill*. You must be Jeremy’s mother.”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Oh. I often meet Jeremy at the store and he helps me carry my bags of groceries up the hill to my house. Since I don’t have a car, he’s a big help to me. We talk a lot as we walk up the hill together. He’s a real nice boy.”

“Thank you for telling me this. I had no idea he was doing this after school.” I continued, “It’s true. Jeremy is very helpful and he also loves to babysit children. He has a lot of compassion for the ‘underdog’.”

Picture 2 of Jeremy in Ukarumpa, PNG (1990):

The phone rang and I went to answer it. “Hello. This is the Stutzman residence.”

“Hello. This is Mrs. Knowles* from the Primary School calling. I just wanted to let you know that Jeremy got in trouble again at school today. He got into a fight and has to stay after school. Please come and pick him up, since he’ll miss the bus.”

“Okay, but can you tell me what happened?”

“Well. I’m not sure, but he’s just ‘trouble on two feet’ looking for a place to happen.”

“Bye.”
——————
*not her real name

As a mother looking at Jeremy through the eyes of faith and love, I only saw picture 1. I knew picture 2 existed for some people, but I refused to see it. I still don’t see it very clearly.

This Friday, Dec 8th, the ‘eyes of the law’ are going to be looking at picture 2 of Jeremy as he has his court trial (in California). He has a lawyer who believes that many of the criminal charges against Jeremy can be dropped. Please pray for mercy and justice for him, and above all that he will turn his whole heart to the Lord. Thank you for praying.

Note: Verna will be going to Papua New Guinea for a month in January. She leaves Jan 2nd and returns Feb 2nd. Please pray for safety in travel and strength for the task of consulting Bible translators and teaching them to use computer software for linguistic analysis and dictionary making. Pray for Robert as he mans the ‘home fires’ by himself once again.