the work that is committed to me as a police officer and chaplain, I seek to bring before these delinquents the claims of Christ; and where there is any possi bility at all, I introduce them to some evangelical church. And what of the results? One day as I came on duty, I noticed on the desk sergeant’s table a large pic ture of a crushed Plymouth sedan. “Who was killed in that car?” I asked. “ No one,” the officer replied. “ There were three girls in that car, and they weren’t hurt very seriously.” I said, “ I cannot believe it.” “Well,” he said, “ they are in jail right now.” When I knew that these three girls were in in our jail, I said I must see them, and so, asking the matron to open the cell door, I invited the girls into my office. They came, and when I had gathered the story of these runaways,' I found that one girl (15 years of age) had al ready solicited on the streets for six months; another who was older, had been soliciting for a longer time; the third was just starting on what could lead to a life of crime. After talking kindly with them, I finally brought them to the point of ten der memories: I saw the tears well up in their eyes; and then at the appro priate time I brought before them what it meant to turn their backs on sin and to begin a new life. It was my joy to see those girls kneel in my office and accept Christ as their Saviour, and each accept a Gospel of John. I found out the name of the city to which they were to go, and contacted an evangelical minister there, giving him their names and addresses, so that he might assist them further. One boy came to my office because an old school theft had been discovered. A f ter a conversation, the whole matter was cleared up satisfactorily. He was a Christian, and out of that discussion came a decision on his part that will un doubtedly lead him to give himself wholly to full-time Christian service. You see, a cell can become a house of God and a chaplain’s desk, a pulpit. These are but a few of the many op portunities that come the way of the chaplain and juvenile officer in the De partment of Human Relations. It so happens that in the Montebello Police Department, the Chief and all the of ficers are glad to give me absolute free dom to deal with these cases as I see fit. Delinquency is not juvenile. I meet it in adults where there are those deep- seated serious situations of pending breaks in families and homes already broken. It becomes my joy to meet these and talk with them about the more seri ous things of life and eternity. I believe that an evangelical chaplain in a police department, or any civic pub lic institution, has an unusual opportu nity to point ihen and women, boys and girls, to the place of peace and rest, the source of salvation — the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. No, delinquency is not juvenile; it is very mature. M A Y , 1 9 4 8
N OT long ago a letter came to my desk from a Christian worker in which she wrote: “How I do praise God for raising up the Key to Life Clubs for the Junior High young people! I have been interested in Child Evangelism for years, and have taught High School and College Bible Classes for the seventh, eighth and ninth graders. We have prayed definitely that God would raise up some club for this age and we believe your Key to Life Club is the answer to our prayers. So we thank Him and wish to encourage your hearts, knowing ‘that He which hath begun a good work in you will per form it .until the day of Jesus Christ.’ ” Some of you may not have heard of this Club, so let me give some of the high points. It was born of necessity: groups of Junior Highs insisted upon having their own Bible Club. Trusting they could be affiliated with some na tional organization, they were encour aged to band together. Then there proved to be nothing organized particu larly for their age. There were Child Evangelism classes for the Primary and the Junior age, and several well-known groups for High School age, but nothing for these Junior Highs. As we who were interested waited on the Lord, He gave us the Key to Life Club for them. We have felt that it was His club, raised up for such a time as this. The Teen-Agers have been called “the impossible age” by many and “the prob lem age” by others, but they are no
problem to God, and nothing is impos sible with Him. The Lord Jesus Himself declared, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). Christ also declared, “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15). Paul wrote: “ How shall they be lieve in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher (or teacher)?” (Rom. 10:14). Thousands of Junior Highs have never been inside of a church or Sunday School, have never heard the name of God or Jesus Christ, except in oaths, and have never seen a Bible, not to mention ever having possessed one of their own! Talk about missions! Do you realize that every city and town in America is a real mission field? Everyone is decry ing the awful tide of juvenild delin quency, but how can it be otherwise, with so many broken homes and godless fathers and mothers? Thousands of dol lars are being spent to build amusement places, gymnasiums, and what have you, to give young people thrills and the “up-look.” But doing this without pre senting to them the one and only cure for an aching heart, a troubled mind, a passion - wracked body, and a sin - sick soul is very ineffective and only a tem porary cure for crime. Too long Jesus Christ has been pre sented as an effeminate sort of being appealing only to women, children and weak men. Junior Highs have said, Page Seven
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