Lately I receive more and more requests to send my autobiography Miracle on Luckie Street to individuals who are incarcerated. These requests often come from personal friends of mine who are embarrassed to tell me that their son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, or close friend is serving time in jail.
There is no need to be embarrassed. More and more people in this society find themselves in this situation and indeed most everyone in the United States is either related to, or knows someone who is going through a tough time in this regard. It is a fact that 10% of our population is now addicted to drugs and 42% of families have at least one severe alcoholic in it.
Generally these folks who are contacting me are themselves God fearing – law abiding citizens and are far removed from that world and it is disconcerting for them to even discuss it, but they are desperate to help their friends and relatives.
I admire them for caring enough for whomever it is to be concerned enough to take action, (whether disconcerting or not). Many feel helpless because some of these prisoners have been to rehab numerous times and/or in and out of jail, but they always seem to end right back up on drugs or whatever mischief they were involved in and the recidivism rate is very high. I believe that their attempt to send my book is often kind of a last ditch effort to somehow reach them.
My advice is consistent. I just don’t believe that rehabilitation can occur without first accepting Jesus Christ as one’s Savior. That is the foundation and first step; however you should be aware that most people who are incarcerated have several other problems that must be addressed too. Just like a car must have all cylinders working in unison we as human beings must hit on all cylinders. In my mind our cylinders are: spiritual, behavioral, educational, and physical.
After I found Christ I still had to deal with severe addictions to drugs and alcoholism. I had also been angry at the world all of my life and was incredibly violent and that had to be reined in. I did not have much formal education, training, job references, a mentor, family interest, or anything that would help make me a good candidate for employment. And I was a physical wreck ravaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse; I was almost skeletal derived from an unhealthy diet; I had no stamina or energy from living a horrible lifestyle devoid of exercise and wreaking havoc on my body with drugs and alcohol. (At least I didn’t have tattoos all over my head, neck, and body, but many have those to deal with as well.)
There are many problems facing ex-cons. Most are given $50 when they are released from prison and they are put on the street. Whether or not they have accepted Christ as their Savior or not, most are ill prepared to return to society. Their families have been embarrassed and abused by them to the point where they have been disowned and abandoned by them. And even if they have received Christ in prison and want to change, it is difficult because no one wants to hire a convicted felon. Fifty bucks is soon gone, they are broke, depressed, and discouraged and turn to drugs, alcohol, and crime for relief and all too often end right back up in jail. It is a vicious cycle.
In order to succeed they must set themselves on a course where each cylinder is working properly and success is guaranteed. So after they meet Jesus Christ they must learn how to deal with emotional and behavioral issues such as anger management, low self esteem, depression and the like. Often that requires expensive professional care.
People also need a purpose in life and a meaningful career is all but essential in that regard. In order to get a good job, education is necessary. That doesn’t always mean college; sometimes a technical skill such as becoming an electrician, plumber, welder, computer technician, or mechanic is more suited to them, but make no mistake education is imperative.
We all need to be physically fit in order to feel and do our best. Many prisoners are unhealthy all of the way from their rotten teeth to their sedentary rumps and must learn personal hygiene best practices and how to exercise and get to a point where they are fit and feel good again.
Yikes! Can anyone make it?
I did and I know many others who have as well. Often it begins in prison by first coming to meet the Lord through a prison ministry. (Please pray as we go into Huntsville Texas prison and preach to thousands. It is a dangerous hard core prison and hundreds of us as volunteers will be going out on the yard and mingling with them for two days in order to bring the word of God to them.) Hopefully those who accept Christ as their Savior will begin their journey to recovery and sanity while still in prison and begin working towards hitting on all cylinders to address their behavioral and emotional problems, education, and health issues, (even if they do pushups in their 6 X 9 cell).
Pray for them and those of us who care about them won’t you. If you can help somehow, then please do so. I believe that our prisons are an important part of those “vast fields that are ripe for harvest” spoken of by Jesus Christ. Most of these tortured souls have reached a point where they realize that they cannot make it alone and recognize the need for God in their lives. It is a great opportunity to reach lost souls for Christ. Many of you who are reading this have attended your own churches for months or even years without seeing a single conversion. I will be disappointed if we don’t see over a thousand give their heart to Jesus over the two days we are in Texas. It is quite a feeling and you would enjoy being an important part of it.
And if you would like to send a book to a prisoner, remember that it must be a soft bound book, (they don’t allow hard bound books in prison). Also you cannot personally send it to them; it must come directly from a publisher or distributer such as Amazon. The softbound version of my book can be ordered from: http://williamsongroupusa.com/miracleonluckiestreet
My book details how I fought through all of the problems mentioned in this entry and it took years to achieve some semblance of normalcy. I had flashbacks from LSD for several years and my mind was scrambled for at least two years before I could think clearly again and make decisions. I say that to tell you not to give up just because they don’t suddenly become “normal” after accepting Christ. There are consequences to a life of sin and they don’t just go away upon our conversion. It takes time and much prayer and hard work, but it is entirely achievable as has been demonstrated in my life and millions of others.
John 4:35
You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.