Yesterday I received a three page handwritten letter from a man incarcerated in prison with 6 life sentences (conservatively 180 years to life). He had just read my book, Miracle on Luckie Street and he mentioned that my faith was inspirational and the transformation of my life by God had a “dramatic impact” on him.
He stated that he is a born again Christian and has been using his time in prison to grow in the word of God and develop his faith so he can focus on God while he is “slammed down 24/7 (“which is most of the time”). He told me, “It’s one thing to be isolated in a prison cell, but it’s a whole other thing to be isolated in a prison cell with a Bible”.
He found a copy of my book in the day room and he said that it was just another way of God kissing him on the forehead and blessing him; (he mentioned that before he was made, God had prepared a nice bald place for God to place those kisses).
The covers had been cut off my book, (they don’t allow hardbound books in prison), but it was still in good shape. Someone had sent it to another inmate and he said it isn’t unusual after they finish reading a book for them to leave it in the day room “with a prayer”. He told me that he’d received many such blessings which is what my book was to him.
This prisoner told me much more including that I would relate in knowing that he’d recently been attacked in his bunk while he slept. He managed to slip off his bed and in spite of having a hair trigger temper like me and retaliating, he simply asked the other inmate to stop; amazingly he did. He related that prior to going to sleep he had put on the full armor of God. He went on to say that even though the other prisoner had pounded on his head with all of his weight over thirty times, he didn’t even have a headache or any visible signs of the beating.
He is not bitter about being in prison and there was no whining in this letter, in fact just the opposite. He thinks God put him there in order for him to become a witness for Christ. He said, “As your hard story works to get the attention of hard people, I too shall have a testimony. I’m innocent. God knows exactly where I am today. I can do all things through Christ Jesus who loves me”.
He went on to say that occasionally he and a few Christian brothers get together out on the yard and he tells them this is “Love University”. He further explains, “God wouldn’t drop us in a bucket of love to teach us how to love. We are surrounded by lost tortured souls traveling every direction EXCEPT love, and here we can get our PHD in love.
He then said, “Our God has a plan and I am part of that plan and I could lie around and snivel every day because I’m innocent and demand sympathy from God, but I’ve been blessed with enough wisdom to understand what’s going on and I refuse to waste a day in here. I respect God’s plan without even knowing what it is. It’s not easy out there, especially these days. I could hide here in my ‘high serenity cave’ with my parallel Bibles and chew manna until Rapture, but I’m preparing to go back out there and live God’s plan, not mine, trusting He will lead and provide.”
He closed out his letter by telling me that he saw a photo of me sitting on my horse in the book and his thought was that “God kisses him on the forehead a lot too” and he added a smiley face. He added a P.S. and stated that he was going to put my book back out in the day room with a prayer and he drew another big smiley face.
Yes I think God does kiss me on the forehead a lot and this letter was a blessing and a kiss. After reading it my problems don’t seem to be as large today. This prisoner stated: I respect God’s plan without even knowing what it is.
Hmmm…We all need a dose of faith of that dimension.
If God didn’t drop you into that bucket of love today and you are suffering, consider yourself fortunate. Not everyone gets an opportunity to obtain a PHD in love… David Wilkerson once stated:“All true passion is borne out of anguish. All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish. True joy comes after anguish.”
Matt.8:10
When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.