For those who read the life and times of Quilt Therapy, you know that I have a brother in prison.  My children know and love their uncle Tom, and they’re aware of his crimes and we all pray for him often.

On Sunday, our pastor announced that he was going to jail on March 26th, and he hoped our congregation would help put up enough money to bail him out.

Whatever else he said went way over the heads of our kids, as they sat in stunned silence – and then began scrambling to get to me to find out what Pastor Don had done to have to go to jail.  They were visibly upset over the whole issue, and I tried to calm them as much as possible.

After the service, I pulled the three little ones together and stopped Pastor Don as he was leaving.  I explained the situation with my brother and asked him to explain to my kids why he was going to jail and what it all really meant.  Of course, he started with asking if they knew who Jerry Lewis was, and I had to explain that we didn’t have television, so the kids were clueless on that note.  So, Pr. Don went on to explain that it was a fundraiser, and the bottom line was that the local MDA chapter was trying to raise money through donations – community members were taken to “jail” at a local restaurant and then they were to try to call on friends and family to donate enough money to get the person released.  He told them that all of the money went to help find a cure for muscular dystrophy.

With the kids understanding and much calmer, we made our way to the car.  Poor things – they wanted Pastor Don to tell uncle Tom they loved him when Pr. Don saw him in prison!