The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 22:1-6, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.

2 The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.

3 The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished for it.

4 The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards himself will be far from them.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

It all happened in 1995. Christa Pike was then 18 years old when she and her 17-year-old boy friend, Tadaryl Shipp, lured Colleen Slemmer, a Jobs Corps co-worker, into a secluded area near the University of Tennessee and killed her. The motive was jealousy. Christa believed Colleen was a rival for the love of her boy friend.

Ultimately, Christa Pike was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Complications occurred, and the Governor of Tennessee has now put a “stay” on Christa Pike’s execution.

The huge question that begs to be heard is: WHERE WERE THE PARENTS WHEN ALL OF THIS WAS OCCURING? Where was the Sunday School where Christa could have learned about Jesus? “Train up a child in the way he (she) should go” requires parental guidance. Where was the teaching of the “thorns and snares” that lay in wait for unsuspecting youth? Where were the Christian friends, who could have told her about Jesus? Where were the prayer warriors, who might have prevailed for her salvation?

There seems no way out for now 31-year-old Christa. Will she be next victim of the electric chair? Or will the executioners try the lethal injection again. What a tragedy! The only positive aspect of this senseless, childish cataclysm is its “WAKE UP” call for all of us! Young people die. And when they die without Christ, they go to Hell where they experience the LORD’s final judgment! It’s a judgment that will not overlook our failures to reach the lost before it’s too late!

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

We will never know that Christ is all we need,

Until He becomes all that we have. – Corrie ten Boom