Sunday, December 25, 2016
A Christmas Prison Breakthrough
A few weeks ago I asked my 2 substance abuse classes if they
would mind if I practiced my sermons for them. I also said if just one guy
doesn’t want me to, I’d respect that. It was unanimous…they wanted me to
preach. Our last class was Monday of last week so I preached a Christmas
message on “Emmanuel, God with Us.”
As I was driving to the prison that morning, God spoke to my
heart and said, “I want you to hug each inmate in your classes as they leave
class.” I was like, “Really God?! That’s 60 men plus per class! Seriously…some
guys have real hygiene issues!”
“Just let me do My work,” was the response I got.
So, I started my message by saying that I understand how
lonely a time of year this for a lot of the men. Family might be too far to
travel, some families may have disowned you, etc. As I got into the message
during the first class, there were a ton of interruptions, even at the end of
class there were some security issues happening in another classroom. There was
no way I could have hugged these men as they left. (This kind of stuff is
commonplace at prisons. Security trumps everything.)
So, during my lunch-break I prayed. I basically said, “If
You mean what You asked me to do, then please close interruptive doors and let
me do what You asked.”
Well, during the second class I started the message out the
same way. Then I felt a special unction from the Holy Spirit. Preaching stuff
that wasn’t even in my message, etc. Suddenly God took over! Not even one
interruption except for count (that’s when security has to come into each
classroom to count inmates). As I continued to preach, I started to notice
quite a few misty eyes. I was somewhat shocked. The whole time, it was so quiet
that you could practically hear a fly’s wings flap.
A summary of what I preached included statements like, “You
are not alone. God is with you. Always has been. He loves you so much. No
matter what you have done in the past doesn’t change the depth of His love for
you. He loves you for who you are not how you are. Don’t let this place harden
you to the love of God in Jesus. He was born, died and rose from the dead to
give you life, a new start, a clean slate. No matter how tough you think you
are, God wants to rejoice over you with a happy song.” (Zephaniah 3)
As my message was coming to a close, I told them what God
wanted me to do. Hug them all. I mentioned that this might be the only hug some
of them get during Christmas. I also explained that if anyone didn’t want a
hug, just walk by me and say, “pass.”
I finished my message about 20 minutes before class ended.
They just talked among themselves for the time remaining. Well, as the classes
were getting ready to be released, one guy yelled out, “Time for those hugs
Chap!” (Many of the guys still call me Chap from when I was the Assistant
Chaplain.) So I stood by the door and started the hugging process. Some of the
men were crying with tears of joy and appreciation. I never saw anything like
it! One guy, nestled his head on my shoulder, with tears in his eyes, said, “Thank
you Chap. God bless you Chap. I love you Chap.” It was so hard for me to
contain myself. Only one guy out of 60 “passed!”
Then came this one old guy. They call him Turtle. He reminds
me of the Tim Conway old man character from the Carol Burnett Show (if you’re
younger than 40, google it). Turtle never took care of himself. I found out
later he only showered once a week. His prison clothes were stained with food
and who knows what. So I gave him a hug, and he went on his way.
On the next day, Tuesday, there were no education classes
but there were chapel call-outs. As I was sitting in my classroom alone, preparing
lessons for the following week, one of the guys (let’s call him Johnny) from my
afternoon class came bursting into my classroom. He was excited to tell me
something. (Johnny had given his life to Christ a few years ago in prison.)
He went on to say, “When I came up to you for the hug, I don’t
know if you noticed I was crying.” I said, “I did notice.” I also pointed out
that God was moving in such a powerful way that he wasn’t the only one! Johnny
affirmed that he saw some of the other guys too. Then he tells me that when he
saw me hug Turtle (from whom everyone stays away) he had an idea. He wanted to
be Turtle’s caretaker! He goes on to tell me that earlier in the morning he
approached the Lieutenant responsible for housing. He explained that he wanted
to be Turtle’s caretaker and knew he would need to change bunks in order to do
that. He was instantly granted his request! (That is almost an impossible
timeline in prison!) So, as of that afternoon, Johnny and Turtle were officially
bunkmates! I told him that was awesome and now he can be the hands and feet of
Jesus to Turtle!
Oh, if we would just listen to that small still voice and
not argue if it doesn’t go right the first time. God knows what He’s doing…duh.
Please pray for those incarcerated. I know what happened
last Monday was a direct result of the prayers of God’s people. May He use all
of us the same way as we allow the Potter to mold us and use us…lumps and all.
Merry Christmas.
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