I went to prison this weekend and had a blast! There were approximately 65 volunteers on the Inmate Encounter prison ministry team that I joined for the weekend and we visited several prisons in the vicinity of Lake City Florida. A great time was had by all and hundreds of decisions for Christ were made by inmates before the weekend concluded.
I saw God work in a miraculous way that made my hair stand on end and goose bumps cover the arms of an inmate with whom I spoke. I’d offered my testimony at one prison in the morning and afterwards my driver and I were going to run into town grab some lunch and we were to go to an institution for youthful offenders that afternoon.
As we were driving along we got a call from the coordinator and were told that there had been a riot that morning at the prison that we were scheduled to visit. It had occurred while our volunteer softball team was playing the inmate team in a game conducted on the yard. In the 3rd inning a riot broke out among some inmates and the guards had to pepper spray them and lock down the entire prison; (no one was hurt on our softball team and they were able to exit safely).
It was the last day of our event and I was bummed out because I was looking forward to speaking at that unit, but I still hadn’t written my Bible study lesson and decided to just go on home and write it. Just then the phone rang and the coordinator asked if I would go to another prison and speak there.
I agreed and we turned around and headed over there. It was a large facility and our band performed exceptionally well to begin the program. We had basketball dribbling legends Bruce and Isaiah Crevier perform and speak, and then I spoke to a couple of hundred inmates.
We had a tremendous program and afterwards many inmates indicated that they wanted to change their lives and walk with the Lord. We had setup at a location where we could speak to inmates that were located on two different yards that were separated by chain link fences and razor wire. Some of our teammates were inside with the inmates and we, (the platform speakers), were outside the enclosure; I was standing on a walkway area beneath a tower where my testimony could be heard by the inmates on both yards simultaneously.
Afterwards I went up to the chain link fence and several inmates came over and we were conversing. A little lady volunteer came up to me and told me a guy was insisting upon talking with me on the adjoining yard, and asked if I would go talk to him. I agreed and walked over with her and saw a big guy standing there eyeing me. He stuck his fingers through the fence to shake hands as best he could with just a few fingers and I did likewise.
When my fingers touched his, he latched onto them and very nearly broke them; (they are still sore this morning). He wasn’t trying to harm me, but was sobbing and crying and thanking me for coming. He said if I hadn’t come he didn’t know what he would have done. He was very distraught and had been considering suicide all day.
Then he told me that several months ago he’d written me a 20 page letter and I’d responded and sent him an autographed copy of my book. He told me I’d encouraged him greatly and had urged him stay strong in the Lord by putting on the full armor of God every morning. He laughed through his tears as he recalled that I told him over and again that he needed to “suit up” every morning in the full armor of God. He told me I’d written him several times.
I receive hundreds of letters from inmates but I vaguely remembered him as being a guy that came from a very wealthy and prominent family in South Georgia. He’d been spoiled and pampered all of his life and when he turned 16 his father had given him a brand new Corvette. He began drinking and carousing and soon was into drugs and it led to a life of crime. He appeared to be in his early 40’s and here he was in a blue prison uniform surrounded by dangerous men. He showed me a scar on his neck that was identical to the one my brother Jim had when he had neck surgery.
I told him he didn’t have to hang himself because he was not alone and God loved him more than he could imagine. I told him that he could believe how much God loved him because I had not originally been scheduled to speak at that unit and had originally been scheduled to speak at the prison down the road. I told him how I had been diverted to his unit due to the riot, and that God had used that incident to bring me to see him personally in order to offer encouragement to him.
He immediately began crying and sobbing again, (once again twisting my fingers to the point of snapping them as his big body rocked back and forth with pent up emotion). I prayed with him and urged him to do as I’d told him so long ago, to “suit up” each and every morning and throughout the day to ask God to surround him with His loving protection.
Before I left he was smiling and even laughing. He had finally released my fingers and I was smiling too as I tenderly rubbed them back to normalcy.
My friends God sometimes uses bad things to accomplish good things and this is a prime example. Some guys got beat up during the fight at one unit, (bad thing), but God used that incident to send me to comfort someone at another unit who changed his mind about “cashing in his chips”, (good thing).
You may say, “Bah! It’s nothing but coincidence; however I know different, because I’ve been a witness to miraculous intervention by God on many occasions.
Matthew 25 instructs us: For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.‘ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?‘
“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels . . .
I know there are those who question my sanity for going into prison yards and ministering to prisoners. Call me crazy if you like but honestly there are few things in life that I enjoy more than standing on a prison yard encouraging inmates to follow Jesus Christ. I’ve never fully understood why it appealed to me so much, but the verse above has finally given me clarity. Selah . . .
Gal. 2:6
As for those who were held in high esteem – whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism . . .
February 17, 2014 – Click here to listen