Prison Reflections
There’s something very refreshing when you spend time with people who know they deserve nothing but grace and have nothing but Jesus. While that’s ultimately true of every believer, it’s generally overshadowed by our distractions and thoughts of personal accomplishments. When you mix in a little bit of ego and entitlement, you can hardly see it at all. That’s not the case for the men I spent time with in prison last week.
This is my second time to have the opportunity to teach at a maximum security men’s prison in Houston, Texas, for my friends who established and run an accredited college in the prison there. There are over 20 maximum security men’s prisons in the state of Texas. Men across the state can apply to the college, and if they are accepted, they are then transferred to the Houston prison. Upon graduation, they are sent out to one of the prisons in the state where they wills serve out the rest of their sentences while assisting the chaplains at their respective locations.
The time I’ve spent teaching in this program has truly been the most transformative educational experiences of my life. Each time, I have felt as though I received far more than I gave. While I’ve left the intensive week of instruction a bit exhausted, my heart was overflowing. I was reminded, none of us deserve grace any more than anyone else and none of us need it any less.
In Psalm 73, the worship leader Asaph recounts how he almost walked away from his faith because of his envy of the abundance of the wicked. After this dark night of the soul, Asaph reached a point of clarity in which he confessed, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25). This beautiful statement comes on the heels of a song about agonizing doubt. It took him 24 verses to get to the point of his confession. How long will it take us?
Those guys I spent the week with, as far as I can tell, are living in verse 25. Sometimes we get there the long way. Sometimes we don’t get there at all. Let’s join Asaph, and follow the example of my friends in Texas, by living in the reality of God as our greatest good.
Photos: the two images in the post are of a card the guys made for me. You can see they picked up on my love for fishing.
