Words from Jason & Lindsay's parents...

Below is the transcript from the families' Press Conference on Friday August 20, 2004. This captures the strength of character, integrity, and faith of Jason and Lindsay's families, SO much more than I ever could. These are truly remarkable people:

Good afternoon. My name is Chris Cutshall. Kathy and I are Lindsay’s parents and Bob and Delores Allen are Jason’s parents. Kathy and I flew to Sacramento from Columbus, OH late Tuesday night and Bob and Delores flew in from Grand Rapids, MI, Wednesday morning. Kathy and I picked up the Allens at the airport and we have been together since then. Even though I’m doing the talking, I am speaking on behalf of both sets of parents. The first thing that we would like to say is that as committed Christian parents we are very grateful to God for taking our children home to be with Him in heaven. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 that for the persons who place their faith in Jesus Christ, "to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord," and we believe that with all of our hearts, so first of all "thank You, Lord." Second, we are incredibly grateful for the amazing love and support that we have received from the staff of Rock-N-Water. They have done everything within their power to accommodate us and to help us find Jason and Lindsay. They are the best of people. Also, we are equally grateful for the many churches around the nation that have been interceding on our behalf and especially our home churches. We want to thank Pastor David Cooke and First Baptist Church of Placerville for allowing us to use their facilities today for this press conference. Pastor David and this fellowship have been a huge blessing to us in our great time of trial. And we would like to thank the law-enforcement agencies in this county, El Dorado, and in Sonoma county for the way they have conducted the search and the consequent investigation. The El Dorado and the Sonoma Sheriffs departments have conducted themselves and continue to conduct themselves with a great deal of professionalism, integrity, class and concern for our two children and for us, their parents, and our families. Kathy and I first received a call from a camp staff person where Jason and Lindsay had been working this summer, the call came Monday, August 16th, at approximately 11:30 EST, 8:30 PT, to ask if we knew anything about where Jason and Lindsay may be -- we didn’t, but right away our hearts were deeply troubled because Jason and Lindsay are very responsible stable people who would never just decide not to show up for work, so we knew right away that something was very wrong. We called Bob and Delores and they felt the same. We knew that they were either lost, injured, stuck or worse, and as time went on without word, we were beginning to believe what is every loving parent’s nightmare, the worst. And even though the worst has occurred, we want all who are praying and who are concerned to know that the Lord has been answering your prayers in amazing ways, and we want you to know that we are okay. Our hearts are full of sorrow and grief, but we are experiencing God’s perfect peace through His gracious presence and power. We understand that even as people who are dedicated to the Lord, we are not immune to the powers of darkness in this life, and what could be darker than the senseless murder of two completely innocent people? But we believe that light always overtakes and overcomes darkness, and what appears on the surface to be a victory for darkness is in reality a victory for light, because Jason and Lindsay are eternally in the light of their Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. We know as parents that you expect us to say that our children are the best of people, but that is not simply our testimony, but the testimony of many others. Jason and Lindsay came to CA this summer to do what they love to do, work at a Christian adventure camp, and they came for one reason only, to serve the Lord by serving people, especially children and young people. That is what these two were all about -- they were all about (and still are, by the way) the Lord Jesus Christ and helping people make it in a dark and fallen world, believing that the only way to make it is through Jesus Christ. These two extremely beautiful young adults dedicated their lives to Christian service, and we have to tell you that Bob and Delores and Kathy and I could not be more proud and pleased with them than we are right now. They were literally at the peak of their Christian commitment and development. They were so mature about their faith and about their relationship with God and with one another. They were morally clean, spiritually holy and high in Christian character when the Lord took them home to heaven to be with Him. In that sense, this was the best time for the Lord to take them home. And we believe that their reward for their faithfulness in this life will translate into immeasurably rich eternal service in God’s eternal kingdom. Jason and Lindsay were to be married on Saturday, September 11, two days after her 23rd birthday, near our church, the Cutshall’s church, on a farm in the Fresno, OH area. They loved the outdoors, so we we’re planning a garden wedding with the reception in the barn with a Christian Bluegrass band, because among other styles of music they loved Bluegrass. But as my wife Kathy pointed out to me, the celebration that occurred in heaven when they entered the gates together far surpasses any human celebration that could happen here on earth. So we are so happy for them. We are the ones who have to bear the burden of carrying on without their presence, which is the source of our greatest pain. They are so beautiful and we love them with our entire being. But the Word of God tells us as Christians to grieve with hope, with confident expectation, in the Lord, and that is exactly what we are doing and will continue to do. The Word also says that we as Christians "can do all things (meaning, all things that are required of us by God) through Christ who strengthens us," Philippians 4:13, which is, by the way one of Jason’s favorite Bible verses. So we are going to return to our homes soon and grieve in community with family and church family and carry on to the glory of our heavenly Father who loved us enough to send His beloved Son to die for us because sin is so bad, including the sin in my life and in your human life as well. We are all witnesses this day of how bad and ugly and dark sin gone to seed can actually be. We would like to thank everyone who has been praying for us -- please continue to pray. We are experiencing the power that is resulting from your prayers. We would request that the media be careful of getting in the way of the police investigation because we want justice and believe we will get it -- if not in this life certainly in the next, but most of all we want to get a completely insane cold-blooded killer off the beaches and off the streets. Who ever did this is the exact opposite of Jason and Lindsay. He/she/they are the worst of the worse. But all they could do, the worst they could do, is kill the bodies, not the souls, which are forever preserved by God. So they didn’t win -- they never do. Darkness never does in the end. For Jason and Lindsay they are home in heaven with Jesus Christ -- for them there is no more pain. They have been found alive, and our God is glorified, and we are satisfied in Him. We would also request that everyone respect our need for privacy to grieve for our beloved children. If you respect us we will respect you and do our best to cooperate with your desire to develop this story. God bless Jason and Lindsay. God bless you, and we would encourage you to look up and focus on Jesus Christ. In Him and in Him alone will you find perfect peace in a world full of trouble and turmoil. Thank you very much. I will take a few questions if you have them, but I will take none pertaining to the case. We are leaving that entirely to the law-enforcement authorities.