To The Citizens Of Dillon County:
On behalf of Jacob Richardson’s family, I would like to thank the many hundreds of people who have lifted Jacob and his family up in prayer during the last weeks. How God moves when his people pray! Jacob’s recovery will be long, and we would ask that you continue to pray for him.
When Jacob told me that he wanted to be a police officer, I was very upset. I told Jacob that it is not a safe world, and he told me not to worry that his fellow officers would always have his 6 (which he had to explain to me meant that there would always be someone covering his back). In the early hours of Sunday, July 6, we were both proven right. It is truly hard to grasp the magnitude of the efforts made to save Jacob. I tried to keep up with Jacob’s work schedule, and I would always pray that God would send his angels when Jacob needed them. If you could look on the scene that Sunday morning, you would have seen God’s angels at work. To you they would have looked like police officers, EMT workers, firemen, or just ordinary men and women who immediately started to pray. God honored my prayers on a grander scale than I would have ever imagined.
Jacob will be ever grateful for all that has been done for him and indeed continues to be done for him. But I have two requests that I would like to make on Jacob’s behalf for the fellow officers he loves and respects.
The next time you meet a police officer make an effort to shake his or her hand and thank them for the work he or she does. Because as I told Jacob, it is not a safe world, and they stand ready to stand between us and anyone or anything that would do us harm.
The second thing I would ask is that you look at the name of the officer and remember him or her in prayer. Every day police officers put on a uniform, pin on their badge, and go to work. This very act says to the citizens of our county get on with the business of living your lives. We are on the job. And if you ever do have to make that 911 call, you can do so with confidence that someone will answer. And if that officer could speak to you, I believe the message would be “Hold on, I’m on the way to stand between you and that which is trying to harm you.”
I will never understand the dedication of these men and women who are for the most part overworked and underpaid. But I have met and talked with so many of them, not just from Dillon County but from all over our state, and I know that being a police officer is not just a job for them. It’s a calling to protect the citizens of their neighborhoods. I want them to know that NOT A ONE of them will ever be left out of my prayers. They are truly special to me and my family. Pray for them, pray for Jacob, and pray for those who love Jacob.
Jacob’s Grandma
Glenda Prescott
1022 E. Leitner Extension
Latta, SC 29565
