CHAPTER SEVEN - NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE US

CHAPTER SEVEN
Nothing Shall Separate Us

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

She propped him up on her shoulders. He was a skinny lad, only about ten years of age. "Can you see anything?" she questioned in a whisper. The boy rubbed the window with his shirt sleeve.

"Coast is clear Mom," he replied, equally as quiet.

Gently, so gently, the wiry youth pushed on the window until it opened. Then, receiving a boost from his mother, he shimmied inside. He was cautious as he walked stealthily across the bedroom floor, down the hallway and through the kitchen to the back door. Waiting outside were his mother and younger sister. As they entered the darkened house, they went quickly. They stole what they could, and then, rushing to their car, they sped off into the night.

The scene was repeated many times before the mother was eventually caught. It was not her first offense. As she sat in a cell in the Hawkinsville jail, just eleven miles from my home, I had no idea that God was working, planning for our paths to cross.

"Jerri, I need you to go to the jail with me," said my friend Hilda over the phone.
"There's a woman there who has been using her children to help her rob homes.
The Lord has given me a burden for her, and I'd just like you to go with me to visit her."

Inwardly, I chuckled. Hilda definitely did not seem the type to be going to the county jails in our area. Her husband, a respected businessman, might frown on such noble endeavors, but I was game. If Hilda had a burden to visit such a woman, I knew it must be of God. She was one of the finest Christian women I knew in Cochran. She had a love for people and a love for the Lord that could not be equaled.

What was God doing? I couldn't wait to find out.

Knocking on the thick steel door, I yelled, "Edith, are you in there?"
A hesitant female voice answered, "Yes, I'm here."


Hilda grinned at me as I began talking with a woman that neither she nor I had ever seen. "Edith, the Lord has sent us here. My friend and I came by just to tell you that God loves you." Silence. "Edith, are you listening?"

Edith was listening and, as I talked about the love of God, Hilda lifted her heart to heaven in prayer. Soon we were all kneeling down...Hilda and I on the cold, damp concrete floor on one side of the door and Edith on the other. A soul had been born into the kingdom of God, and Jerri Tuck was on another fishing trip!

Hilda had done her job, and from that point on I took the ball and ran with it. Soon I was visiting Edith on a regular basis. I led her cellmate Vivian to the Lord, and we all started studying the Bible together and it became such a joy to see them both growing in the Lord.

While visiting with Edith in the jail, I met "Aunt Pat". She was Edith's older sister. A sweet, soft spoken woman, she had been caring for Edith's two children while she was in jail. Although Pat had children and grandchildren living with her in a single-wide trailer, she still had room in her heart for two more. Space was limited, but they were family. They would make it somehow.

(Edith's two children pictured above)

When the judge pronounced sentence on Edith, she was in a panic. Knowing Pat couldn't keep her children indefinitely, she begged me to adopt them. There was no way. We still had five children at home and were barely making it financially. I was heartbroken that I couldn't help her in this way. Imploring the Lord, I cried, " Father, please show us what to do for these children. Help us find them a home."

They transferred Edith from Hawkinsville to the Hardwick Prison for Women in Milledgeville. Charlie and I then went to work finding a place for her kids. It seemed no one had room for two pre-teen children.

After a diligent search, we were able to get them accepted into the Methodist Children's Home in Macon. It wasn't ideal but we, along with Pat, were allowed to get them on weekends for visits. Somehow that helped. The children knew they had family and friends that loved them.

As our friendship with Edith grew, so did our association with Pat. It wasn't long before we started a Bible study in her home. Out of the Bible study grew an awareness of the needs of this precious family. Soon we were seeing God move by providing a nice brick home for them. Once again God was using my real estate business to be a blessing. How I praised Him for the knowledge He had given me in this area.

The Bible study grew. Pat's sons, Ray and Donald, entered the kingdom of God while standing by their grandfather's grave in a beautiful cemetery in Statesboro, Georgia. Standing there, I talked with them about the eternal state of their souls. In the quietness of that moment they prayed to receive Christ into their hearts, and life came out of death.

With God working so mightily in this family, it came as no surprise when Connie, Pat's only daughter, rededicated her life to the Lord. Now, Connie's children, Daniel and Sarah, were also starting to learn about Jesus.

The chain reaction continued, as Miss Adel, Pat and Edith's mother, started coming to the Bible study. Weeks grew into months and then into years. Altogether we met in Pat's home for four years. Many times we would alternate, meeting at Adel's home and also in Ray's apartment.

What started as a close friendship with Edith had now expanded to Pat's family. Ray, her oldest son, had been hooked on pot before getting saved. Meeting for Bible study one night at his apartment, we had planned an Ephesus bonfire! He had gathered all of his drug paraphernalia, rock records, and anything that smacked of Satan's kingdom. Ray wanted to make a complete break with his past. He had read that the Ephesians burned their works of witchcraft, and idolatry and he told us that was his desire, also. It was to be quite a night.

As Charlie and I drove up into his back yard, we were thrilled at the pile of junk he had gathered. Sitting on his back porch, in complete amazement, was Tom, his drug supplier. Tom had tried to sell him drugs earlier that week, but Ray told him he had another "connection".

That connection was Jesus! Ray had then invited Tom to stay with him since he was without a place to live. There would be only one condition. Attend the Monday night Bible study!


As the flames soared into the night air, the Lord started stirring Tom's heart. By the end of the evening, he too became a child of God. God was on the move, and we continued to rejoice in what He was doing. During the weeks and months that followed, we saw others come to Christ, including Tom's wife. There is no way to explain the joy Charlie and I were experiencing as we watched the hand of God in all of this.

Finally, Edith was released from prison. She was able to reunite with her children and eventually married a very kind man who loved her and her children. They all moved to the mountains and established a new life. I knew God had performed a great miracle in Edith. She belonged to the Lord now, and He would be with her wherever she might go.

Twelve years had now passed since first meeting Edith and her family. It was 1993. A year the family would never forget. Adel, a diabetic, had been stricken with Alzheimer's disease. Visiting her in the nursing home, Pat and Edith grieved as they saw their precious mother wasting away. Many times she didn't even recognize them. Now, when all of them were Christians, they were denied the most precious thing of all....fellowship in Him.

Then one day the shocking news came from the mountains. Edith had mysteriously passed away in her sleep. We were all in shock. Her husband Frank, was grief stricken. Pat was devastated.

A few months later, while Pat was taking Connie to work, a deer darted near the road. Pat swerved, but it was too late. The car rolled over and over. Pat was thrown from the car. Although Connie sustained multiple injuries, she survived. It was not to be for Pat.

As Connie received treatment in the emergency room, Pat, fighting for her life, slipped away. Not giving up, the medical team continued to work on her. Finally, when it seemed all hope was gone, they were able to resuscitate her. They transferred her to Macon, and the vigil began. Nine days later, after telling all her family and friends how much she loved them, she slipped into a coma and went to be with Jesus.

My daughter Sandy, a nurse who worked at the Hawkinsville hospital, comforted me. "Mom, she must have told Jesus she had some unfinished business, and He let her come back just so she could tell everyone that she loved them." It helped.
Adel, still in a nursing home, had no idea that her two daughters had gone on ahead. A short while later in the same year, she went to join them. I know it must have been a sweet reunion for the three of them. No prison, no distance, no debilitating sickness to ever separate them again. They're together.....with Jesus.


I'm so glad I took time to go fishing in the jail! As I look forward to my own home going, I know that I will see these three precious women there. Today I believe that they are peeking over the edge of heaven saying, "Keep on, Hilda. Keep on, Jerri. Don't give up working with people. It will be worth it all when you get here. Believe us.....it will be worth it all!"

Prayer for Today

Dear Lord,

You must have a special place in your heart for families. It only takes the moving of your Spirit in one family member’s heart to affect all the others. Lord, when I look at the “one,” help me remember that there may be a child, a mother, or a sister that will be affected by this one’s response to the gospel.

In Jesus name,
Amen