Doing Unto Others

Pardoned by God and the Governor, Mel Goebel Shares his Joy with Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners

Ron Humphrey

 

 

Waiting inside the Nebraska state capitol, Mel Goebel shuffled his feet nervously as his eyes darted around the room. He knew that his past crimes had been forgiven by Jesus Christ; was Nebraska ready to do likewise?

 

Sixteen years earlier, in 1971, when Mel was barely out of his teens, he had been convicted of burglary and would serve five years in a Nebraska prison as a two-time loser.

He spent his first two years behind bars smuggling marijuana into the prison. But then he ran into another prisoner, named Fred, who had written on the back of his jacket, “Smile, Jesus is your friend.”

 

“Tell me about this Jesus,” Mel sneered to Fred. “I’ve never seen any love in people.”

 

“Christ will give you love,” Fred answered. “He will give you peace of mind. He’ll give you direction and overflow your life with joy and happiness.”

 

Mel remembered the Jesus of his childhood; he had gone to Mass and recited his prayers. But he had returned to a home without love, without real peace. A home consumed with strife, abuse and harsh words. If Jesus were real, why hadn’t Mel experienced His love while growing up?

 

“It’s a walk of faith,” Fred answered. “You have to read the Holy Scriptures and come to grips with such questions yourself.”

 

His curiosity piqued, Mel borrowed a Bible from the chapel and read the words of love and forgiveness. One day, he knelt behind a shower curtain and confessed his sin. “That day I found God’s forgiveness—and the peace I had been seeking.”

 

Until that moment, Mel’s focus in prison was just on getting out. Now, over the next few months, he learned to be content, viewing prison as a sort of monastery where he could study the Bible, form close friendships, and practice his Christianity.

 

During this time he met a volunteer from the community, Dallen Peterson, who was struck by Mel’s big smile. He looked ruddily healthy without the prison pallor of so many other inmates in prison.” Peterson, a newcomer to ministering inside a prison, even though he served on the board of directors of Prison Fellowship, could not comprehend Mel’s joy at being in prison.

 

How incredible, Dallen thought. Here, in the most hopeless of places, God gives people hope, joy and purpose. Behind bars, a changed Mel Goebel dedicated his life to helping others, especially prisoners and ex-prisoners like himself.