From the pastor:

          For his parents, the next few years were a surreal blur. Jason was convicted of murder in Florida, and sentenced to life without parole.

          And suddenly the comfortable life -- the overachieving son, the happy Christmases with grandchildren -- was over.

          Carol and Gene moved from Michigan to Florida, so they could be near Jason's prison. For awhile they managed to keep things together, with the daughter-in-law and granddaughters visiting them and the prison often.

          But then in 2004, hurricanes ripped through the area, causing a great deal of damage to their daughter-in-law's house. Eventually she stopped visiting Jason, and then stopped seeing Carol and Gene. Finally, she took her daughters and moved to another state. Carol and Gene haven't seen them since.

          For 12 years, Carol and Gene have spent their Christmases in prison, visiting Jason. The life they knew, the life they sometimes cherished and sometimes took for granted, is gone. 

          Like Carol and Gene Kent, many people are trying to salvage lives far different from the ones they'd planned. They've had to create "a new kind of normal," as Carol puts it. The "old normal" of a happy family and straightforward plans and dreams doesn't exist for them anymore.

          Carol has written books about her experience: When I Lay My Isaac Down and A New Kind of Normal. These days she has a speaking ministry to encourage people who've been through life-changing, life-wrecking ordeals, to assure them they aren't alone, they aren't strange, they aren't being talked about, their sorrows haven't cast them out of the mainstream.

          Because that's certainly what it feels like when it happens to you.

          Triune has joined with a group of Upstate churches to bring Carol Kent to Greenville Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for a two-day women's conference called Take Heart, which will include 33 breakout sessions on everything from grief to divorce to addiction to surviving sexual abuse. We wanted to be a part of this ministry because I'm not sure the church has any more important task than encouragement, than walking alongside a hurting sister, and equally important, allowing her to see God walking alongside as well.

          The Take Heart conference, to be held at Buncombe Street UMC, is $25 and includes Saturday lunch. Many in the Triune family will be there. I hope you'll join us as we launch this ministry of encouragement to hurting women everywhere.

         To register, go to www.takeheartministries.net.

Blessings,