I met a man who works at a federal prison in nearby Yazoo City. He is a part-time carpenter and did some work for me. For some odd reason, he went home and googled me and found my testimony online. He found out about my book, Miracle on Luckie Street, and asked me about it. I told him I wrote it to try, and help lost souls, especially those in correctional facilities. Unbeknownst to me, he went to the chaplain of the prison where he worked the next day and told him about it and asked if he could get my book distributed in the prison.
The chaplain got all excited about it and said that not only could he put the book in the library he wants to start an entire prison-wide program to study the book and the transformation in my life. Then he told the carpenter he wanted me to come to the prison and give my testimony live. In this prison system, there are actually several prisons in one, ranging from housing the very violent, to the non-violent and they house some 5000 inmates. The chaplain asked my friend to see if I could donate 175 books in English and 40 in Spanish to get started and of course, I agreed. The books arrived via Fed Ex yesterday and soon they will be in the hands of inmates throughout the various units in the prison system.
My friend is out of town, but his son picked them up and they are ready to distribute. I called to notify him the books had safely arrived. He wrote, “I tell you what Mr. Bob. I am excited about this! I cannot wait to see the impact of your book and God’s work on these men.” I have a great friend C.F. Hazelwood in the Texas prison system and he was successful in getting the book distributed in every prison in Texas, and they too set up a program for those reading it that even came with a test upon completion. The results were excellent, and I got many letters from men who once had no hope whom God had touched and filled with His hope and Spirit.
I was thinking about this occurrence this morning. I have been experiencing much turmoil in my life regarding getting a house built here on my farm in Mississippi. It sometimes seems that there is no one left in the world who wants to work, or has ambition, or most importantly can speak the truth, especially in the contractor/builder world. Simultaneously I have experienced the same thing in selling my house in the keys with numerous contracts tendered and then seeing them back out at the last minute. Normally I shed these problems like a duck shedding water and simply count my many blessings, but lately, I admit I have thought about this too much.
So, what happens next? Just when I am quasi-depressed, God stirs a man doing some carpenter work for me to google me, and the next thing I know people will soon be hearing about the loving grace of our Father and how no problem is too big, and no one has made too many mistakes to receive total redemption. Some folks who are lost today will be found by the Lord in jail cells and lives will be changed. Somehow my problems don’t seem so big now.
I never cease to be amazed at how God works in our lives. He loves us and wants us to be happy and I believe He is dismayed when we allow the things of the world and Satan to discourage us. I read the Bible every single day and have for decades and intellectually I know that God will simply never forsake me, and yet I fret over the stupidest things. God has me in the palm of His hand and He loves me with an incomprehensible love, and He has vowed to help me get through anything. What problem is too big now?
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”