Serving in the military gave Jim key tools to serve behind bars.
When Jim Rickard was 19, he felt “bulletproof and crazy.” He decided to join the armed forces—following in the footsteps of his father, who had served in the Coast Guard in World War II. Jim spent several years in the Marine Corps in such capacities as military police, “brig chaser” (qualified escort who finds and transports Marines back to the military jail), and water safety instructor.
The oldest of three boys, Jim was raised in a Christian home by loving parents who were both ministers. Jim believed in Jesus at a young age, and his faith continued to grow during his time in the military.
“I wrote on a little card that I’d wear in my uniform. I’d pull it out and read it every morning. It said, ‘Look at others through the eyes of Jesus.’”
But the challenging environment of the Marine Corps tested his faith.
“I struggled with competing values: the ones my parents had taught me and the ones the [people around me] in the Marines were instilling within me. But the values I learned from my parents eventually won out and helped me to know who I was—and Whose I was,” Jim says, referring to being a beloved child of God.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
During Jim’s time in the military, the Vietnam War was in full swing. Jim desperately wanted to go there to help fight. Instead, he was shipped off to Japan on short notice. After asking three times to be transferred to Vietnam—and being told no each time—he asked his superior what was wrong with him. Jim was frustrated by the vague answer.
“He said, ‘There's nothing wrong with you. You're just not going,’” Jim recalls. “It made me really depressed.”
Jim called his parents on the special military radio to share his disappointing news about not going to Vietnam.
“My mother started crying and said, ‘Oh, thank God! We've been praying since the moment you left that you wouldn't go there!’”
It wasn’t until later that Jim realized staying out of Vietnam may have saved his life. Now he often shares this story as a testament to the power of prayer and of his parents interceding on his behalf.
After his years in the military, Jim finished college—ultimately earning four degrees during his career. He spent 20 years as a Salvation Army officer and served as the administrator of two transitional correctional facilities in Texas and North Carolina. When he retired in his late 60s, he became antsy.
“I'm not a retirement kind of guy. I can only cut the grass for so long,” jokes Jim.
So he returned to the workforce as a Prison Fellowship Academy® manager in Florida—a role for which Jim believes the military helped prepare him.
HONOR AND HONESTY
“In the Marine Corps , integrity is everything. You say what you mean, and you mean what you say. And you own up to it,” says Jim. “That same integrity and respect for others are vital in the Academy. I always say my first thing is integrity. If you don’t have it, I can’t give it to you.”
Jim thinks of the men in the Academy—an intensive yearlong program of transformation—as a “band of brothers” who support and uplift each other. He loves getting to know each participant, explaining that “every man has a story.” The men all eventually become a community.
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” Jim explains, “but we start to meld together.”
One important lesson Jim gleaned while serving with the military police is the power of words.
“What I learned in the service is that your voice can be a weapon,” says Jim. “You can set somebody off or you can calm them down.”
He teaches Academy participants how to escalate or de-escalate a situation through words.
CONNECTION WITH OTHER VETERANS
Academy participants appreciate Jim’s motivational attitude. Veterans tend to be especially drawn to him.
“When I use military jargon, they relate and interact,” says Jim.
One Academy participant, a fellow Marine, couldn’t wait to tell Jim he was getting married to a woman he had been dating on the outside.
“He said, ‘I want you to perform the ceremony. I want a Marine to marry me and my wife.’ I was so honored,” says Jim, who went through the proper clearance process to perform the ceremony in the visitors’ area.
NO ONE IS A LOST CAUSE
Jim also believes in second (and third and more) chances.
“Nobody is beyond redemption. Because I serve a mighty God who loved me enough to send a redeemer, Jesus, to save me and care about me, then I should care about others,” he says. “No one is trash to be discarded.”
One of the Academy participants called himself a “dirtbag criminal,” which did not sit well with Jim. He told that man to never call himself that again and to never forget he was created in the image of God.
“In the military, we were taught to adapt, overcome, and prevail,” Jim says. “We do not quit on anything. So we push toward successfully completing everything—including the Academy—through grit and resilience.”
Jim’s colonel had a saying over his door: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” In all he does, Jim consistently leads with integrity, honoring the Marines' “semper fi” (“always faithful”) motto in his loyal service to the Lord and to his band of brothers.
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