Last Wednesday I was in Oklahoma City to hear Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson speak at the monthly meeting of the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium. Several hundred people gathered to hear Chuck speak about “doing the right thing” and why it is imperative that we follow the teachings of Jesus if we want to see families, communities, churches, businesses, and our country healed and prosperous.

Before I went to Oklahoma City last week I was told several times by several people in several locations across the country that I “just had to meet Larry and Judy Mills – especially Judy.” I was told that Judy is the leader of Angel Tree – a Prison Fellowship ministry that cares for the children of incarcerated parents beginning at Christmas and extending throughout the year – in her local church.

I am in my office in West Michigan. The trees are beginning to change up here, and it feels like fall.

I have a couple of days to catch up on some writing, emails, and study as I prepare to preach this weekend at Ridge Point.

I am in New York this week. I spent yesterday with our field staff, pastors, and partners. There is an eagerness to serve here, and our supporters are thrilled with the new focus of Prison Fellowship. “We’ve missed you,” one pastor told me.

Like so many things in life, there is far more to Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program than buying a gift for a child of an incarcerated parent! My recent conversation with an ex-felon who is now a full-time dad proves this.

“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.

We arrived at the Sanders Estes Unit in Venus, Texas and pulled into a parking lot that could have been outside hundreds of correctional institutions all over the United States. The double fence, gates, razor-wired, small slit windows, and cold heavy doors were “standard issue.”

Camp Crucis is a “nice” camp. It does not have horses, boats, or zip lines. It has crafts, a swimming pool, healthy food, solid clean facilities, and air conditioning.  It also has an unlimited supply of the love of Jesus.

It was hot and dry in Granbury, Texas—just south of Fort Worth.

“My daddy’s in jail.”

My new little friend volunteered that information when he was introduced to my son and me. He is four years old and has only ever known his dad behind bars, on probation, or on parole. There have been times when he has known his dad to be running from law enforcement.