Community Bible Study

Reform School For Boys

One month before my tenth birthday I was sent to a reform school for boys where I would spend the next three years. This was the beginning of a whole new life for me.

Born and raised in northern Minnesota, I was the seventh of fourteen children, and for the first nine years of my life I lived with my family in a four-room home. We tried to farm but all we ever seemed to harvest were rocks! My father worked in the open-pit iron ore mines where he didn't earn much money; what he did earn went to support his drinking habit. We were poor, dirt poor. It was not a childhood I would want my children to go through. It is difficult to look back with fondness on your childhood when you had an alcoholic father who physically abused his children on a regular basis. Instead of family love and unity there existed an environment ripe for getting into trouble, which we did constantly. We were rebellious, always fighting at school, and eventually some of us got into trouble with the law.

When my father died in 1956 nine children were still living at home. Minnesota Child Welfare decided that my mother was incapable of caring for the six younger children so they were split up and placed in various homes by the welfare system. The older three, of whom I was the youngest, were sent to reform school in the hopes of straightening us out. It was the beginning of some of the best years of my life. This may seem like a strange thing to say, but remember it was the first time I lived with amazing features such as electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing. Most of all, it was the first place I learned there were people who cared about me regardless of who I was or what I had done.

At the age of twelve I was placed as a foster child with the Thomas family. Dr. Thomas was a kind, loving man who had a genuine concern for others, especially underprivileged kids. He was also a disciplinarian, which with my background was right where God wanted me to be.

After high school I joined the Marines and four years later I returned to Minnesota. It was 1968. Little did I know I was about to meet the person who would have the greatest impact on my life-Dr. Thomas's nurse, Peg!

Peg and her family helped me realize I could not continue to live the life I had been leading, especially the lifestyle I had adopted during my years as a Marine. Since I wanted to please her, I began to read my Bible though I continued to argue with Peg over certain things she said about Christianity and why I needed Christ in my life.

One of the passages I read was in Romans where Paul talks about justification by faith. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). I had no problem realizing I had done my share of sinning.

One Sunday evening we attended a movie, The Cross And The Switchblade, which was being shown at a local church. As I watched the movie I was flooded with memories of my rebellious life, which was much like that of the boys on screen. When the movie was over I went forward and gave my life to Jesus Christ, accepting Him as my personal Savior.

Peg and I dated for almost two years and were married in 1970. God's love has been the cornerstone of our marriage and He has blessed us for over thirty years.

God has not only been instrumental in our marriage but in my business life as well. In September 1982, I called an old acquaintance and asked if he might consider adding someone to help him with his New England sales territory. He said "Yes!" He went on to relate that just the previous Sunday he had asked his Sunday School class to pray that he would find a Christian partner to help him. In May 1983 I quit my job and we moved to Massachusetts. God's hand was in that move and in the business partnership we have had for 18 years.

In 1976, after 17 years, I was reunited with my two older brothers, Dick and Bill, and in 1991 with my mother and the rest of my brothers and sisters. It had been 35 years since we were separated; therefore, these were very emotional times.

Many of us have an older sibling who we want to emulate. As long as we're in their shadow we feel protected, and while you may wonder why, when I was growing up at home, I felt that way about my brother Dick. Recently he succumbed to lung cancer, and I had the privilege of giving the eulogy at his funeral. Since Dick had accepted Christ as his personal Savior, I was able to say that, just as I had stood in the shadow of his stature as a boy, he now stood in the shadow of his Savior's cross.

We, too, have the opportunity to stand in that symbolic shadow, which is big enough to cover everyone and anyone who comes to Christ. "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). Jesus died for Dick, for you, and for me. His death was an expression of how much God loves us, in spite of any undesirable characteristics we may possess or anything we may have done, no matter how bad.

Just as people at the reform school loved me, regardless of who I was or what I had done, God accepts us and loves us unconditionally. May we be willing to accept the grace and forgiveness He offers!

Ira Thomas
Springfield Evening, MA CBS