June 24, 2002

Dear Friend:

Two days from now we’ll be heading with about 15 Aslan kids to Creation Festival East.  Each year almost 100,000 people meet together on a 300-acre farm in the middle of Pennsylvania for 5 days of music and fun.  We camp out in tents, cook all our own food and take very cold showers!  Our kids really enjoy getting away from this area for a few days.  It breathes life into them, and they always return with more hope in their hearts.  James* and Jared* are two brothers that will be going with us again this year.  For quite a while they have been living with their grandmother in Red Bank.  Things have been really crowded with as many as 3 adults and 9 children living in the small two-story house.  Back in March, I drove by and was surprised to find the house empty.  Almost overnight, everyone was gone.  The grandmother and most of the kids had moved to Neptune.  James and Jared wanted to keep going to Red Bank Regional High School, so they have been “couch surfing” at various friend’s houses in Red Bank.  Although they’re with Aslan every time our doors are open, we still see them on the street at all times of day and night.  What a sad way for a 14 and a 16-year-old boy to have to live.      

Many times Lynn Ann and I are asked why we keep doing the things we’re doing.  What is it that keeps us going?  Simply put, we love Aslan.  We love the children of Aslan.  These kids give us life, and we find such purpose in serving them.  The great American poet, Robert Frost, wrote about the less-traveled road.  We believe this is the road God has set before us.  We’ve experienced some heartache along this twenty-seven year road we’ve traveled, but the joys have outweighed the sorrows.  They need light to guide them through the darkness of their lost, lonely and painful worlds.  That is why Aslan means so much to them.  The “lights” of this world are dim at best, and they’re easily blown out.  The Light we offer them can never be blown out!  In the words of Scripture, “The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” [John 1:9, The Message]. 

We are forever thankful for all of you who make this ministry possible through your prayers and through your generous giving.  May God richly bless you for your gifts.

Sincerely in Christ,

Craig

Craig Bogard

See our Creation Festival Flyer!