Our meeting place was burglarized again. Some things taken were expensive and important to our ministry and other things had no real value. It is absolutely due to the area we are located and I have no doubt that whoever did this is a slave to the stronghold of addiction. We are where God wants us to be ministering to His people, so please pray for the person or persons who did this. Pray that God would break those chains that hold them so they may be freed from whatever drives them to commit crimes.
Addiction is a social and medical problem that leads to criminal activity. I would add that it is also a spiritual problem. Our focus should not be on punishment, but on healing and restoration.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3626407/ is a site that details the cost and effectiveness of methadone treatment in Ontario $99,491,000 per year in 2010. With new clinics opening every year, I am sure the cost is much higher today. If our strategy on addiction is working, why do we need more and more clinics? I am by no means an expert or even claim to understand the medicine behind addiction, but the evidence increasingly shows that what we are doing is ineffective. Please pray for those who are trapped in addiction and for a solution that works.