Colorado Cory

Twinges of fear plucked at 16-year-old Cory's mind as he jumped in the family car for a week of vacation with his parents and younger brother. He tried to shove away images of a similar journey years earlier-a journey that began with itches of excitement for a week of fun with his family and ended in a child's nightmare.

Seven years ago Cory's parents, Tommy and Denice Lucas of Lakewood, Colorado, were arrested for trafficking marijuana across the border from Mexico to the U.S. Tommy and Denice went to prison. Cory and his younger brother, Brandon, went to live with their aunt.

"When they were in prison, I was really mad at them, and sometimes I felt that I never wanted to speak to them again," Cory admitted. During the initial weeks and months of his parents' incarceration, Cory began hanging around the wrong crowd and "doing things I shouldn't."

Christmas and Camping Intervene

"Doing things he shouldn't" could have landed Cory in a juvenile detention center by now. Instead, things have taken a different turn. Around the same time that Cory started getting into trouble, Tommy and Denice found out about Angel Tree®, a program of Prison Fellowship that ministers to prisoners and their children. They signed their two boys up to receive Christmas gifts. Of course the gifts made an impact, but what really got to Cory was what happened several months later. Through Angel Tree, Cory got to go to Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je ("I'd Rather Have Jesus").

For Cory, it was a crash course in life, God, and forgiveness. In-between whitewater rafting and making new friends, he learned a few things like, "There's nothing we can do that God won't forgive us for. I've learned that with everything we do we need Him. I can't do anything without Him."

On the Right Track and Picking up Speed

After camp, Cory began seeing things differently. He also started acting differently.

He quit hanging out with the wrong crowd and began mentoring a disabled child. He also won two awards, and a college scholarship for an essay he wrote about overcoming adversity, specifically the adversity of having both parents in prison at the same time.

In early 2005 Tommy and Denice were released from prison. And Cory, who once said he never wanted to speak to them again, realized that that's not what he wanted at all. Slowly, the family learned to communicate again, and Cory traded in his anger toward his parents for a newly emerging trust.

"I don't find any reason to keep anything from my parents," he said. "There's no secrets. There's no lies between me and them. If I'm mad at them, I'll let them know why I'm mad at them."

Tommy and Denice have also made a real turn-around since they got out. Tommy got a job at an auto body shop, and Denice was promoted to manager of a Subway restaurant.

Speed Bumps along the Straight and Narrow

"My parents are my biggest inspiration for staying out of trouble," Cory admitted, explaining that he had his own brush with the law earlier this year when he got a ticket while driving his dirt bike.

Riding dirt bikes with his dad has become one of his absolute favorite pastimes. "If I could be out there all day, every day, I would."

But when he got in trouble, Cory said he realized he'd crossed the line. "It kind of made me sad and disappointed about myself, 'cause I knew I wasn't supposed to be doing it, but I did it anyway."

Cory said he's learning not to put himself in "situations where I'd second guess my instincts." Good thing he's got friends who hold him accountable. He went back to camp this year and made some like-minded friends during the short week at Id-Ra-Ha-Je. Now that camp is over, they stay in touch over MySpace and cell phone texts-frequently sending each other Bible verses.

A Second Chance

Camp was the second interruption to his 30-hour-a-week summer job at a local amusement park. The first was a family trip to Cañon City-their first real vacation ever!

As Cory gazed out across the breathtaking Royal Gorge, his memories of that fateful trip to Mexico seemed to fall into the depths below him. "It was fun and exciting," he said, "and it was actually family time and for the reason to have fun as a family and not something else."