We had a miracle here in the Midwest, and I want to share it with you.

A week ago Monday, a 13-year-old boy named Ben Ownby was abducted by a man in a rusty white Nissan truck. When, after four days, there were no further signs of Ben, the situation assumed the same bleakness that darkens too many stories like this one.

However, Friday afternoon, after some stellar police work and tips from the public, Ben was found in an apartment ~ and, amazingly, he was found with Shawn Hornbeck, who had been abducted in 2002 when he was 11! Since 2002 his parents had begun the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to help find other missing kids, and they themselves never gave up hope that they would find Shawn alive some day.

As you might expect, there are two *very* joyful families in St. Louis this weekend ~ and lots of thankful, happy people like me who have been watching TV reports and reading the stories in the St. Louis paper. Following the second of two family press conferences this morning, the KSDK weatherman was caught wiping his eyes with a tissue. His anchor lady covered for his emotion by pointing out that there were a lot of happy tears in the Midwest this weekend ~ despite the mother of all ice storms plaguing the area through Monday.

Thanks be to God! :)