When Wisdom Begins
When Wisdom Begins
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Randy Sampson’s mother was watching the Phoenix TV news one night when she discovered a side of her son she had never expected. Nineteen-year-old Randy had been arrested for a murder committed during a robbery attempt.
For years he had shrugged off school, shrugged off the values of his parents, “and went my own way,” he says. But as he faced 17 to 27 years behind bars--an eternity to a young man just departing his teens--”I really began to think about my life.”
He was helped along by his first cellmate, a huge guy with tattooed arms “as big as my thighs.” When the prisoner invited Randy to a Bible study, “I didn’t think I could say no,” he says now with a chuckle. But there he met other guys like his cellie--in for long sentences and yet “at ease in the circumstances they were in,” Randy recalls. “I thought that was odd because I was depressed, discouraged, and fearful.”
He started attending chapel services, “and finally, one night in my cell, I had a conversation with God,” Randy describes. “I didn’t know what the term was then, but I was confessing my sins. I told God, ‘I want my life to change. I want to do something significant with my life and have peace like these other guys.’ ”
Though new in his faith, Randy realized “two things were very important: reading God’s Word and prayer.” To increase his understanding of the Bible, he ordered Christian commentaries and study materials from book distributors.
“A lot of guys would go to the commissary and spend their money on candy bars, stuff like that,” says Randy, whose job in the prison print shop earned a meager 50 cents an hour. “I’d save my money for books.”
Then he started taking in-prison classes taught by faculty from nearby Rio Salado Community College. “Before, I was always a quitter,” he says. “I had never really finished anything, and for me to go through a whole college class and do all my assignments and get a good grade--that made me feel good. I thought, I’m not useless, I’m not worthless, I can do something well.”
Randy got an associate degree in computer usage and technology while also taking correspondence Bible courses through Moody Bible Institute. Then he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Christian education. “I said to God, ‘As long as You keep the door open, I will continue to take courses.’ ”
