On a stormy Minnesota night, as tornado sirens echoed, Adam gathered his children into safety. “I stood watch while they huddled together,” he recalled. “But even as the storm raged outside, my mind was on another storm coming the next morning—accompanying my friend Alan to his immigration check-in.”
Alan and his wife once lived a stable life in their home country. But when his wife used her art to speak for the voiceless, their family became a target. Forced to flee, they came to the U.S. seeking safety. “We miss our old life and wish to reclaim it,” Alan said. “But we have no regrets. Peacefully standing up for the voiceless is a choice we would make again.”
Their new life brought its own storms. Alan spent over five months in ICE detention, separated from his wife and baby daughter. As his next annual check-in approached, fear returned. “The worst part was knowing my wife and child were left alone, struggling to survive,” he shared.
On the eve of the appointment, Alan tried to hold on to normalcy. “He told me he worked his shift, then took his wife and daughter out for dinner,” Adam said. “They ended the night with a long walk home. That stuck with me—he wanted to savor every moment, not knowing what the next day would bring.”
The next morning, Adam drove him to the check-in. At the gate, Alan’s words landed heavily: “I have to check in with ICE.” Before entering, he left his belongings in Adam’s car, just in case.
“I prayed the whole time,” Adam admitted. “Not with elegant words, but a desperate plea for peace and mercy. I remembered Jesus in the garden before His arrest, asking His disciples to stay awake with Him. That’s what I wanted to do for Alan—stay awake and stand beside him.”
The outcome was unexpectedly simple. After glancing at his paperwork, the officer said: “Come back in one year.”
“It was over in less than five minutes,” Adam said. “After all that weight and fear, we walked back out stunned. We stopped for coffee, breathing again, trying to process what had just happened.”
Alan still reflects on what that friendship meant. “We are humbled by the kindness and love we received,” he shared. “For the first time in ten years, I prayed again. You reminded us of what faith, love, and community can look like. When others face their own storms, we will stand with them—just as you stood with us.”
As Alan described it, the words of Psalm 23 became real again: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” In the middle of fear and uncertainty, God’s presence was made known—through the faithful friendship of a brother willing to stand in the storm.
