Yesterday I received a letter from the Texas criminal justice system. It read:
“Bob: I wanted you to know that 87 prison libraries in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are involved in a statewide Miracle on Luckie Street reading incentive. We have at least 3 copies of your book in all 87 libraries. We allow the offender to recheck the book once. If he/she would like to receive a certificate of accomplishment, they complete a test with a grade of at least 70.
The results have been a steady increase of interest as the offenders talk to one another about the book. The Echo is the prison newspaper which all offenders receive. In the July/August edition of the Echo, there will be an article about Miracle on Luckie St. with reviews from some of the offenders who have read the book. Thank you for taking the time and having the courage to write about your life. – Library Services Coordinator – Texas Department of Criminal Justice”
There are over 168,280 prisoners in Texas prisons. It continues to have more prisoners than any other state and not just by a tiny margin. In fact at the end of 2013, Texas had about 24 percent more prisoners than California, the No. 2 state and more than twice as many as the number 3 state Florida which comes in at just over 100,000. So quite naturally I was delighted to hear that so many are reading the book. I know it gives them hope because I routinely receive letters from offenders in several states including Texas and many have come to receive Christ through reading it.
I make the books available at no charge to any prison that will allow me to ship them to their libraries; however I am amazed to see how difficult it is to get “the powers that be” to accept and distribute this free gift to them. To the best of my memory it has been sent and distributed statewide to all correctional facilities in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma, and in each case it has involved a battle. If I had not had a high ranking friend who served as an advocate for me in Texas and other states, it would have probably never happened there.
To say the least it’s a time consuming and frustrating project and I’ve all but given up even trying to get additional states to accept the books. So they sit in my warehouse unread and I’ve moved on to other projects like the Jesus Alliance which devours my time.
Now comes this greatly encouraging letter; could it be that God wants me to quit whining about spending time getting them placed in the remaining states and get back to work?
As I mulled it over this morning, I was busily talking myself out of it. It has been my experience that when an opportunity comes along to serve the Lord, our enemy, complemented by his demonic horde, begins to whisper in our ears and discourage the notion, hissing: “You don’t have enough time” and similar negative thoughts.
Then I thought about writing the book. I wrote it primarily for sinners and not saints. I’ve been criticized for years for using street language and opening a window to show the violent nature of living a life of black sin and its tragic consequences and the contrast of turning to a rewarding life where Christ is King. It was my prayer to provide some hope to those who have none with the book in that if my sorry excuse for a life could be transformed by turning to Jesus, so could theirs. Judging from the feedback that I have received I’ve been successful in accomplishing that goal, except not enough people who need to hear this message have read it.
What a shame to go through all that effort and just stop and give up distributing it to those who need to read it. I want to do it, but I’m overwhelmed at the prospect of taking on more projects.
I suppose God doesn’t want us to look at it like that. Too many times we want to do the right thing; we work hard on it, but just when success is within our grasp we give up. He wants us to keep going until the race is finished and rely on Him for our strength. Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
Sigh . . . I guess I’ll add this to my long list of things I need to do and get going again on it. If you have a desire to help me with it, let me know and we’ll work together on it.
Have a great weekend and go to Honey Lake Church (or somewhere) this Sunday.
Matt. 26:41
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
June 5, 2015 – Click here to listen