Chapter 12

Ben’s Miracle

    At the end of 1992 my son,  Benjamin,  tried to enlist in the Army. He could not because there were traces of marijuana in his urine when he went in for his physical. When we found out things got pretty tense around the Low household. Because he didn’t change his ways,  I told him to leave. I took a lot of heat from the rest of the family but it was something I had to do

    Ben was in and out of the house most of 1993,  but things got progressively worse toward the end of the year. In fact, we really hadn’t even seen him, except occasionally driving down the road. When my mom died he showed up at the graveside service high on some drug, looking terrible,  so I told him to leave. Boy, did that go over with all of the relatives on a really traumatic day! After that no one saw Ben for months!

    Don’t misunderstand me,   I love my son - I despised his life style and didn’t want that influence around myself or the rest of my family. Believe me, that brought me into conflict with the other kids,  but I could not allow that terrible influence in my household. At the funeral it broke my heart to see him in the condition he was but, out of respect to my mom’s memory, I could not allow him to stay.

    Anyway, we hadn’t seen Ben for months and then in March 1994, my pastor Brother Ron shared with our church some of the things he was going through with his oldest son. I could empathize so well, although I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes. I prayed so hard that the Lord would do something to wake these kids up and show them what kind of a life they were facing. And then, a couple of days later, Linda received a call from Ben's friend informing her that Ben was in jail.

    Apparently he had been stopped with some of his buddies and the police had found a significant amount of hard drugs in the vehicle and on his person. Enough,  in fact, that he was not just charged with possession, but he was charged with possession with intent to distribute - in essence,  he was dealing drugs.

    When Linda got the call,   she talked with him and apparently he asked if I would mind him calling me in Phoenix. She said she didn’t think I would mind, so the next day he calls me. The conversation was pretty one-sided, with him doing most of the talking. He explained what was going on and I sensed that he was pretty scared. (We found out later that his first cellmate was in jail for murder.)

    Towards the end of this first call I believe that I really shocked my son. I told him, "Ben, I’m the reason that you were stopped and arrested by the police."

    The other end of the phone got real quiet, and then he asked, "Did you call the police on us?"

    I said, "No son, you have been on my mind so much that I have been praying that God would allow something to happen to wake you up. To make you realize that the life you are leading will eventually kill you! You are just like me, hard-headed and the Lord had to back me into a corner, so that I had no where else to go. He’s doing the same thing to you. And I will not stop praying for you."

    He quietly said, "I know, Dad."

    About then time was up for this call and he had to go. I told him that I loved him and that he could call anytime . . . and I told him I would be praying for him.

    A couple of days later Linda went in to see the prosecuting attorney regarding Ben’s case. This guy really came on strong to her. In essence,  he told her that he had had enough of these kids and their drugs and he was going to make an example of Ben. He was going to prosecute him to the max and send him to prison! (You know I could have agreed with him whole-heartedly, if it hadn’t been my son!)

    They set a trial date about a week in the future,  so that gave Ben plenty of time to ponder his situation. He and I talked every couple of days and Linda and/or the kids stopped in to see him pretty regularly. We noticed that immediately after his arrest he had these extreme mood swings from remorse all the way to go ahead, let them put me into prison. We found out later that this was primarily due to his enforced withdrawal from drugs in jail, although it sure made for some rough times while we were going through it. As the trial date approached,  it was stressful for all of us and we all were praying on his behalf.

    Now the trial was set for a Friday. The Sunday before the trial our pastor again shared some the of the heartaches and troubles he was going through,  and that gave me a lot to think about. Needless to say,  I was praying every evening for him. However, on Tuesday something happened and I recalled that scripture;

James 4:2-3
. . .yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss . . .

    That Monday evening the Lord brought this scripture to my mind,  so I decided to pray very specifically. 1) - I prayed that Ben’s charges be dropped from felonies to misdemeanors, but that he be convicted of these charges. He needed to get the proverbial slap across the face to wake him up and show him he was on the wrong road. 2)- I also prayed that he would be put back into our custody so he could see the significant changes that had taken place in our home. 3)- Finally, I prayed that somehow he would be made to move with us to Phoenix and attend church with us. I believed that if he would see what kind of a church family we would be joining, he might also find the stability and friends that would help him get his life together.

    I talked with Linda shortly after my prayers and I told her what I had prayed. The next couple of days were extremely busy for us. Linda was still working - when she got home she and the kids had the daunting task of packing up the house and getting rid of items we weren’t taking with us to Phoenix.  Aaron and I, on the other hand, were still fully engrossed in finishing our part of the new house and finalizing arrangements for the pool and landscaping. In addition, my job was extremely time consuming and stressful,  so I usually came home completely brain-dead!

Other Voices - Linda Low     

   On returning from my last round trip to Phoenix I was informed by one of Ben’s friends that he had been arrested on three felony drug charges. Brian, Carin and I went to visit him two days later. It was a sight to break any mother’s heart – my 18 year old suffering withdrawal, terrified to sleep because his cellmate had been charged with murder, scared, alone and totally deserted by all his friends. It seems that they had all bailed each other out but left Ben on his own.

    The penalty for Ben’s offences was 3-15 years in prison. I knew that wasn’t what he needed to straighten out his life, so I went to talk to the district attorney. He was polite but firm. He was sick of the drug problem and was going to make an example of Ben. Nothing I said seemed to sway him. I left feeling totally disheartened.

    On Wednesday night the Phoenix church had a prayer service. John requested prayer for the situation with Ben. Bro. Ron had said, You have not because you ask not", so John made this petition to the Lord:

                That Ben’s charges were dropped to misdemeanors.
                That Ben would be put into our custody.
                That Ben would move with us to Phoenix.

    John had called and told me about this petition but I confess I had grave doubts after talking to the prosecuting attorney. However, we all committed the situation to prayer for the trial the following Friday.

    Friday morning Brian, myself and a church friend, Kalima Komoto, went to the courthouse. Ben’s trial didn’t start until about 10:30AM and then it dragged on and on. There were conflicting testimonies from the two officers and there appeared to be no legal reason for them having searched and arrested Ben. The judge called a recess for lunch and we ran out to grab a bite to eat. As we were heading back to the courthouse the prosecuting attorney stopped to ask me a question. He asked if I would be willing to take Ben to Arizona with me. I told him I didn’t see how I could since he was set on convicting Ben. He again said, I need to know if you would be willing to take Ben with you?" I told him that I would love nothing more than to take my son with us. He thanked me and walked off. Suddenly, Brian turns to me and said, I bet they’re letting Ben off". I told him I didn’t see how with three felony charges, and went into the courtroom. We had to wait another half an hour during which time the judge asked the prosecuting attorney and Ben’s lawyer to step into his chamber. On their return the judge announced, It is the intention of the prosecuting attorney to reduce the charges with the following stipulations;

    During the speech the judge kept looking at me for agreement with what was being stated. Even though I was totally stunned, I kept shaking my head, Yes. The judge sentenced Ben to 14 days in jail, 10 of which he had already served and then dismissed the court.

    I couldn’t take it all in but we were all relieved. I was so emotionally exhausted I went home and took a nap. Suddenly, I was awakened out of a sound sleep with the realization that John’s petition before the Lord had all come to pass! I immediately called John at his work in Phoenix. When he asked how it went I said, Yes, Yes and Yes!" After a moments pause he realized what I was saying and we both cried and praised the Lord.

      What a time of rejoicing that was! I wasn’t sure whether to shout or cry,  so I guess I did a little of both. I had prayed and my Lord had answered, openly and supernaturally.

    Ben spent another week in jail and then he was put into Linda’s custody under house arrest. When his old friends stopped by,  he told them to leave him alone! He had learned what kind of friends they really were when he was in jail. Anyway,  Linda now had another pair of willing hands to help her with the packing.

    About three weeks later our house in Phoenix was ready for occupancy - not finished,  but ready for occupancy. I flew up to Twin Falls and we started the trip to Phoenix. The trip was pretty uneventful until we were stopped by the police. When I saw the flashing lights, I told Ben and he really got angry.  He started spouting off saying what jerks they were, why didn’t they go after criminals, etc. etc.

    The policeman was polite when he came to the car and asked for my license and registration. I handed them to him and he asked, "Did you know that you have no taillights on the trailer?" (we had been towing a trailer with a 1934 pickup that we had been restoring).

    Of course,  we had no idea the trailer lights were not working. The policeman was nice enough to turn his vehicle lights on and stayed with us and even helped us until we got the lights to operate. After thanking him,  he drove away  without giving us a ticket, and Ben learned a pretty important lesson. Fortunately,  since he had been riding with me in our pickup we had a lot of time to talk. I think we were both trying to re-establish communication after so long a time and the myriad experiences we had both been through.