Back to my adventure... The first question that gets asked of every new inmate is just like
the movies. What are you in for? It's not what did you do. It's
what do they think you did? I had no idea what I did so the question
was a bit difficult to answer. I don't think they believed me. The guy busted for hauling 13 pounds of cocaine was held in "high"
regard. Funny. Get it? High regard? Then there was the guy that
burglarized habitats. I was amused by the guy who said he was
arrested for being drunk and disorderly. He said he mostly drunk and
not so much disorderly. When they asked me, I was a bit embarrassed
cause I didn't know. First, I told them I didn't know. That didn't
work. Then, I told them maybe it was for an unpaid ticket. I probably
should have stuck with some story like ax murderer or something. It
would have been more believable. I sat and talked with a guy about the concept of you being who are by
choice. Every day is a new day and first one of the rest of your
life. You get to choose. Will you do something stupid that gets you
tossed back in jail or will you do something smart that draws you
closer to Jesus. We both agreed it was usually easier to do something
stupid. We talked about speaking in tongues. One guy had spoke in tongues
before. I never had. So he "one upped" on that point. We talked about the difficult life Paul lived. At one point in the
day, a guard left our cell door unlocked. It was weird how
unconsciously, everyone in the cell noted the door was slammed shut
but the key wasn't turned. It speaks a bit for our natural desire to
reclaim freedom. We left it unlocked for about 30 minutes, because no
one wanted to be the one to tell the guard he messed up. I wondered
if they left the door unlocked on purpose, just for the opportunity to
wear their Darth Vador hat and whack someone with a stick when they
stuck their head out. I thought about Grace Point Immersion effort to listen to the entire
new testament of the Bible in 40 days. I wished I could recall more
Bible passages by memory. I think I will work on Bible memorization.
I would have enjoyed dwelling on different passages. I shared John 3:16 with a cell mate. I thought about how much the
verse meant to me. It is a safe haven for me. It is a place I can
retreat and feel like I am in the Father's hand. I told him
repeatedly. Remember the first few words and bank on them when times
get tough. "For God so loved...". I wondered if I was a bad person now that I was locked up in jail.
Would I come out feeling like a bad person. I concluded, "no". I was
not a bad person. I was the same person coming out of jail as the
person that went in jail. This is really key. Circumstance does not create your identity. You create your identify
by the choices you make. Thank you for your prayers. Surf to: http://www.1stchurch.org/GetFacebook.html
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