“Prison is an evil place,” my friend said. “You can feel it all day, every day – a sense of discouragement and oppression. There isn’t any hope inside the walls. But after Prison Fellowship volunteers came to visit, teach, and worship the presence of Jesus – goodness and love and hope – seemed to linger in the air. Guys’ attitudes were better, their language was more clean, and their actions less selfish when a Christian was in the ‘pen.’ We loved it when church people came to visit.”
This past weekend I attended a wedding. At the reception I sat next to a friend of mine who was released from prison three years ago. If you didn’t know his history of addiction and incarceration you would just assume he was just “a friend of the bride or the groom.”
If you took the time to hear my buddy’s story, though, you would hear from this soft-spoken man a tale of self-destruction, addiction, and imprisonment. The autobiography would follow a road of criminal activity that supported a cruel lifestyle, and resulted in several years behind bars. The chapters of his life’s journey would include a pregnant girlfriend; a son he didn’t meet until recently when the “boy” was 24; a marriage to a woman he met while both were high on drugs, married while high, and a resulting marriage centered around getting high; and the birth of a little girl to an addicted mother who has yet to find sobriety.
What you would also quickly discover is a story of grace and hope and joy. This man’s path was intersected by followers of Jesus. While in prison, a Jesus-following family visited him monthly. A church cared for and assisted his wife – even though she rejected most efforts. His little girl received gifts from Angel Tree partners. He was discipled by volunteers and attended Bible studies while incarcerated.
When he was released the church and his friends were waiting. He studied to be an electrician while serving his time, and was hired by a Christ-following man who owned an electrical company. This man assisted him in getting his master electrician’s license. His first job out of prison was installing wires and fixtures in a new church auditorium at his church. How cool is that?!?
Over the last three years he has gained custody of his daughter and reconciled with his mom, who moved into his newly-purchased four-bedroom house to help him with his daughter. He is serving with his church to assist other men as they re-enter society. He is sober, following Jesus more closely each day, advancing at work, and leading others. He now attends weddings with his little “bride-to-be” with the same tears in his eyes all of us dads have – ex-felons or not.
During the reception, I asked him how he went from being incarcerated to radically free and fulfilled in just three short years. “I am where I am because of Jesus and His church,” he quickly replied. “I saw it while I was still in prison and it has just kept going.”
“Prison is an evil place,” he said. “You can feel it all day, every day – a sense of discouragement and oppression. There isn’t any hope inside the walls. But after Prison Fellowship volunteers came to visit, teach, and worship the presence of Jesus – goodness and love and hope – seemed to linger in the air. Guys’ attitudes were better, their language was more clean, and their actions less selfish when a Christian was in the ‘pen.’ We loved it when church people came to visit.”
My heart began to beat fast when he told me that. Is it that simple? I believe it is and my recovering re-entering buddy agrees.
Changing the atmosphere of a prison is as simple as a Jesus-follower visiting – as simple as carrying the love of Jesus in our hearts and souls to a place where hope is in extremely short supply. For my friend a simple visit was a sign of hope that he could be sober, employed, a dad, and a man of God!
Will you join me in prison? Seriously. Go to jail with me! Not because we have done anything wrong but because Jesus has done something very right and transformational. Come to prison with me and we, too, can provide hope. How many more stories like this one are possible and how many more men and women can see that evil is not the most powerful if you and I just go and visit just as Jesus asked us to?