The journey of James

Dear Anne:

"But the hair of his head began to grow as soon as it was shaved off." Judges 16:22

Just back from 30-minute cardio exercise with James in the always accessible rec room of "echo charlie." We cooled down walking around the half court-sized square room. He said that he has been able to run again. One of the unexpected blessings of involuntary arrest and kidnapping from Mexico, dragged in front of a US court without intervention by his Canadian government. Since he got the three year charge he has also discovered who his real friends are. Before he used to go after six, eight girls without a pang of contrition. Now he is buoyed by one faithful girlfriend. "You find out who your friends are when the chips are down," he said. One friend came from Canada to Santa Ana, CA: he flew down without telling James. Then he put $300 on James' commissary account, allowing him a significant improvement in standard of living. "I told him he didn't need to do that and he said 'I just did.'" As a result, James could begin to eat right and work out. Over time he had dropped from 220lbs of steely muscle for his rugged expeditionary lifestyle to 170lbs with flab and cholesterol concern. He would eat every bit provided, half what they provide per meal here at Seattle Federal Detention Center, to the point he would crush up chicken bones and eat them for iron and save the orange peels -- given the orderlies hadn't stolen that week's ration -- to make tea later. Trying to reason with the steadfast girlfriend, he told her to take care of herself. "She chewed me out good for that," he said. Like her unexpectedly loyalty, the ten and a half months cooped up surprisingly restored James' knee. How unexpected the return of God's glory: God's justice is not our our justice.

Chris