Glacier House

CHAPTER 2

Jake and Trevor had been driving for about a half hour in total silence. Jake glanced at Trevor and asked, “We’re about ½ hour from Polson. Mom said she could meet us for lunch. Interested?”

“That sounds great. I’m hungry and seeing your mom would be awesome. She told me I could call her mom. Are you okay with that?”

“I think it’s great. I know how much she enjoyed the time you spent with her and how close she feels to you. “So, Bro, let’s give her a call,” he smiled as he said it.

He pushed the button on the steering wheel. “What would you like to do?” came the automated voice.

“Call Mom.”

“Calling the home number for Mom.”

The phone rang twice before his mother picked it up. “Hi, Jake.”

“Mom, we are about 20 minutes out, do you want to meet us at the Chalet for lunch?”

“That sounds great. I have to drop off something at the church and then will be there.”

Soon after he ended the call, they came over the top of the hill, and displayed below them were Polson and Flathead Lake. The view never got old. Flathead Lake was a large natural lake created by glaciers. There were islands scattered throughout. The lake was beautiful from every angle. Polson was in the southern part of the lake. From the top of the hill, coming into town, you could see the lake for miles.

Jake remembered going to the church camp in Bigfork. It was on the lake, and those camps had been the highlights of his summers. At the church camp there had been the usual swimming, volleyball, and canoeing but also was the spiritual angle. Jake remembered one summer in his junior year of high school when they were around the campfire. The devotion had been about the suffering of Christ on the cross and how He had done it for each of them. After the devotion, they were asked to remain quiet for a few minutes. Jake had looked up at the cross next to the fire pit and saw Christ hanging on the cross. He had shaken his head and closed his eyes and when he looked again, the image was gone. It had left him changed. It had made the love of God come real for him.

When they arrived at the Chalet Jake’s mother was standing by her car. She was a beautiful woman. She was in her fifties. She stood all of 5’4” with a mixture of brown and blonde hair cut in a short, sassy style. Her gentle spirit seemed to envelop her. Her smile welcomed everyone she met.

Jake and Trevor got out and went to meet her. She embraced Jake and then turned to Trevor and embraced him as well.

“Hi, um, mom.”

Her smile widened. “I like that. Let’s go eat.”

After they ordered, Jake filled her in on what was happening.

After the trafficking ring had been broken up, with the help of his brother and sister-in-law, well she wasn’t his sister-in-law yet, Jake knew the victims were going to have a tough time overcoming what had happened. He had held Trevor’s broken body in his arms and cried. He felt it was at that moment God gave him the mission of trying to help Trevor and as many of the victims of human trafficking as he could. As he sat in Trevor’s hospital room day after day the idea of Glacier Emmanuel House took root. He talked with his prayer warrior, his mother, and then with his pastor and brother. Over the last 12 months, the plan has come into reality. He and Trevor were moving to Whitefish where they had bought an old school building. They were going to renovate it and make it a haven for those displaced and suffering from the aftereffects of their imprisonment.

As they finished their lunch, Jake said, “We better get going, I told Jen and Zack we could be there early this afternoon.”

They said their goodbyes and hugged around. They walked his mother over to the car and before she got in, she turned and said, “I’ll be up next week and help however I can. Jen said there was room for me. You boys are good and drive safe.”

As she pulled away Jake shook his head. “We’ll always be boys in her eyes.”

“I’m good with that. She is so special and has been so great with me, she can call me whatever she likes.” Jake nodded and smiled. They climbed back into the truck and turned back onto the highway.