UPDATE: Dan has been found and is safe. Thank you for your prayers, support
Dan is a good friend of mine and one of the most introverted people I know. He can hide in a room better than anyone. We met several years ago at a young adult retreat. He came to a session I was teaching and solely because I made a Star Trek reference while talking about discipleship, he stuck around and we talked afterwards.
We exchanged numbers and became friends on Facebook to keep in touch. We had several friends in common and often through those friends were able to keep tabs on each other. He would text me out of the blue, saying things like “I was reading Exodus today and thought of you. I’m praying for you and your family. I love you. God bless.”
He would go out of his way to attend weekends or retreats where I was speaking. He would ask for prayer requests and book recommendations. He would text me from a bible study to share a breakthrough moment or a skeptical one. And we’d go back and forth with thoughts and ideas until it was bedtime for one or the other.
In October of 2018, at one of the last events I spoke at, we met up again. It was a retreat for men who have come through the Salvation Army rehabilitation program, something Dan knew far too well.
Dan has had a tough life. He was once a beneficiary of that particular service. When he graduated from the program at our Brockton, MA facility he came back as an employee. He worked hard and found his way into the sorting room and then became the dispatch supervisor. The men in the program respected him immensely. He lived adjacent to the residence and led bible studies. He became an intake counselor… the guy who sits on the other side of the desk when you walk in with a life-altering addiction and have nowhere else to go. He knew both sides of the desk.
He got plugged into the local Salvation Army church in Brockton, playing the drums in the worship band and eventually leading a Sunday School class and taking on lay leadership positions. You see, he has always had a heart for ministry. He has always had a heart for talking to people and hearing their stories and occasionally sharing his own. He knows redemption better than most of us ever will.
To know Dan is to love him. To love him is to see firsthand the work of the gospel in a person’s life. A few years ago, Dan felt the gentle urging of God to do more, to go further and he began the process of entering The Salvation Army’s ranks as an officer. A few weeks ago, he showed up at our College for Officer Training. I was lucky enough to meet him at the door.
On Saturday, he walked away. Friends, Dan is missing. Dan needs your prayers.
He wrote me a letter in good ole’ pen and ink last fall. I happened to receive it in the midst of a crisis of my own. Dan and I had a way of finding each other in those moments. I’m hoping it works again. One of the first texts that Dan ever sent me said “Chris, I hope you know how much of a blessing you have been to me. I read your blog over and over again and it blesses me. God bless you.” He always ended his texts with those words.
So these next words are for Dan. A letter for a letter.
Dear Dan,
I hope you’re ok. I have no idea if you’ll see this, but I have faith that God has always walked beside you and that He is doing so right now. That’s just the sort of God that He is.
Wherever you are, whatever the circumstances, please know that you are loved and prayed for and immensely missed. You are important to me, to us, to God. You are one of the best of us.
I am here if you need me. Many others are, too. Mark, Joe, Jeff and Becky, Bram and Jana, so many more. We will drop anything at any time for you. Whatever it takes.
We want to hear from you. We need to hear from you. At the very least, we would like to know that you are ok.
In the meantime, we go before the Father for you and with you. We carry you in our hearts.
I’d like to have a few more conversations about Exodus. We haven’t quite had enough meals with you yet. There’s a place on the couch for you for the next Patriots game.
You bless me. You are a blessing to so many. I love you, brother, we all do.
And we are here for you.
Yours,
Chris.
God bless you.
6 Comments
Please, if you have any news will you share it. An amazing letter. I hope he does get to read it.
We are all praying for you Dan and asking your Heavenly Father to watch over you….you are loved.
Remember Dan, in the family of God, when one hurts we all hurt…. you are not alone. There is NOTHING that is too hard to fix, that together with the help of our almighty Father, that you are not able to overcome…
Joys shared are doubled, and Burdens shared are halved.
Crissy, I will try to share as new information becomes available. Obviously, there will be some sensitivity and discernment used in what is shared and how. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.
Crissy, Dan is safe.
My man. You are the best Chris.
Chris
Thank you for that. You are a teue friend and encourager. God Bless you!
Praying for Dan. Love that guy. And you too Chris. Gods deepest blessings.