I didn’t want to do it. (Ruby)

Tears rolled down Ruby's face, as she sobbed, "I just go from place to place, and nothing seems to work out."

I was out on Fifth Street, near the Mission here on Skid Row when a woman came up to me and started pouring out her heart. As we talked, she began sobbing. "It's been more than two years since I've had my own place. I've been sleeping on the street. I just go from place to place, and nothing seems to work out."

Ruby is a 40-year-old woman who is addicted to crack cocaine. Two years ago she had life-threatening surgery, and she was so thankful God spared her life, that she stopped doing drugs. But soon she went back to her old friends, and she went back to the drugs and drinking until her money ran out, then they didn't want her anymore. "I didn't want to do it." she sobbed.

As I stood on that Skid Row street corner talking with Ruby, great sobs shook her body, and I held her in my arms as she cried bitter tears over her life that is now in shambles. All of her hopes and dreams had gone up in the smoke of the crack cocaine pipe. Crack cocaine is perhaps the most highly addictive drug to ever hit America's streets. Crack is cheap, it’s readily available and addiction is immediate. A crack addict will do ANYTHING to get another hit. Men and women sell their bodies over and over again every day for one more hit of crack.

I’m honest to say that if I didn’t know our God is able to deliver, I would just give up on these precious ones. But the Psalmist wrote that He redeems our life from destruction. I need your prayers, and I need your financial help today to share God’s word with lost, hurting people like Ruby. Use your major credit card when you donate online, www.fjm.org, or when you phone toll free, 1-800-56-HELP-zero. Tomorrow, more of Ruby’s story.

Blessings,

Willie L. Jordan