December 2011

Merry Christmas

It’s time for me to touch base with you again friends and I thought I would share a few of my recent experiences.

Some months back I told you about a man I had met who had a high profile criminal case and had been sentenced to hundreds of years for his crimes. I asked for your prayers that God would allow me to somehow develop a relationship with this individual and be part of pointing him to the cross. I know what many of you may be thinking. But in doing this ministry for so many years now, I have really come to be able to love people and look past the horrendous things they may have done. God says, “whosoever”. That means a lot to me. I was not always a good Christian boy and know that there were many, many situations in my teens and twenties that nearly sent me straight to hell, or at the very least prison. I am thankful that “whosoever” means just that. Well, as of yet I have not been able to have any success getting to know this guy I asked you to pray for. He is not interested in talking to a preacher.

A couple of weeks ago, as I made some rounds through what is called ad-seg in the same prison this guy is in, another inmate struck up a conversation with me. (Ad-seg is short for Administrative Segregation. This is where men are put that can’t follow the rules or are extremely dangerous to other inmates or staff. It is jail in the prison.) In between asking me biblical and religious questions this fellow bragged to me about the long period of time he spent planning and getting himself moved to another section of the prison for the specific purpose of attacking the man I spoke of earlier. He fashioned two weapons from pieces of metal parts taken from a typewriter and stabbed the first guy multiple times. He says he did this because of his hate of the type of crime the other guy had committed, but I believe the truth is that he thought he would be highly exalted among some of those in the prison population for committing this act. He is probably right.

The first guy survived with minimal injuries, was held in isolation for a while, and is now back in his normal prison setting some 8 or 9 months after the incident. However, he is around 40 years old and this is the type of thing he has to be looking over his shoulder for from now on until he dies of old age in a prison infirmary. There are many, many, men like this in prisons around our country. Some suffer the attacks from others not because of what they have done, but just because they are weak, or fearful, or small in stature.

Can you imagine living in a place where you feel totally alone, and every day there is danger all around? What would it be like if there was a high possibility that at any moment, for no apparent reason, someone may begin to beat you or maybe even start stabbing you multiple times? What if someone told you that every time you had enough money to get a couple of things from the store you were to spend all of the money on things for them or your life was in danger? How about if when these types of things occurred, the few people you thought were your friends turned and walked the other way because the culture says it’s every man for himself? Nobody intervenes, ever.

Both of these men I spoke about need Jesus Christ. I understand that we are so appalled by the despicable nature of their crimes and the culture they live in inside prison walls that we would just as soon have them locked away out of our sight to never have to consider or fear them again. But for me, and the folks that work with me, we see these people from a different perspective. We have the chance to talk to them and know them, not just hear about their worst attributes. Although these two guys mentioned are still in the grip of Satan we see that many are redeemable. By no means all, but many are terribly distraught over their past activities and the damage it has done. Many are seeking to understand what a relationship with Christ is all about. Still, they live in this world I described above. So even though I will never be an advocate for offender rights or anything like that, still the reality of what prison life is, particularly for long term convictions, weighs on me.

Another situation I dealt with this week was in the prison medical unit. A man I know who has been a faithful member of our Wednesday afternoon group for about three years has advanced cancer. There is nothing they can do for him. He is 65 and has been in prison most of his adult life. He will spend whatever time he has left in a room with four or five other sick inmates. No privacy. No family at his bedside. His face lit up when he awoke to see me standing there. At the end of our talk he started to cry when I told him I would be sure and come by weekly and see him.

I share these things just so you all know a little about the things I think about, some of the reasons we do what we do. Although each of these situations was brought to this point because of the lifestyle and choices of the individuals involved, still most inmates are just people that you would befriend if given the opportunity. A few are very evil and disturbed individuals, but most of the people I meet in my travels are just men and women whose family situation, life circumstances, and bad choices brought them to a place that many of us could have found ourselves in as well had a few things been different.

Christmas is a sad, sad time in prison. Would you pray for those behind the walls? Would you remember to pray for us in 2012? Remember, Jesus came for those who most needed him, not those who thought they were more righteous than those lowly sinful types.

Here are a few praises after I have laid so much heavy stuff on you;

  • AbundantLifeBaptistChurchrecently picked us up as their missionaries to the prison population. We so appreciate their support and the several members of that body who have recently become part of The Keys team as well.
  • We have a new ladies group being formed to minister monthly in the women’s facility inChillicothe. This is so awesome! Previously Ron and I have been trying to go there quarterly. I am very excited about what these gals are going to see God do.
  • We will be starting another 13 week session ofFinancialPeaceUniversityearly in January in the minimum security men’s facility inSt. Joseph.
  • As many of you know, we were blessed to be able to buy a “company car” recently. This allows Rickey a better ability to connect with some of our reentry clients.
  • Since March, when we stopped receiving any grant funding for our reentry work, Rickey has enrolled 86 men and women in our program and has worked with many of them multiple times both in the office and out helping them get to job interviews, housing applications, etc.

If you know me, you know I could keep going on and on. I will stop here thanking each of you for partnering with us in one way or another and hoping you have an awesome Christmas with those dearest to you!

 

Gene