Ordinary Life

There are worlds inside of worlds in the prison system. All spinning with undercurrents and clique’s that make navigation something of an art form. In the free world proximity acts as a buffer. If you don’t want to see drugs being used, stay away from that area of town. In prison though, everyone is jam packed and living together, so the good, the bad, and the ugly is always front and center.

When most people close their eyes and imagine prison, they see the stereotypical yard with guys throwing weights around with different gangs posturing in every corner waiting on a reason to start a riot. Or three floors of cells and inmates throwing toilet paper rolls off the rails and setting their mattresses on fire. 

There were plenty of days I wanted to chew on my mattress in frustration but I never got to set it on fire. People who have been to prison know the truth, that the real killer in prison is boredom…..soul crushing boredom. Most time is spent lying around reading or watching tv or doing whatever you can think of to kill the time. And there’s a lot of waiting in lines for food, commissary, medical treatment, and even pills. Strange as it may seem, there aren’t as many fights as you might imagine because most people are talked down before it comes to blows. The biggest threat is the mental one caused by the daily grind of doing the exact same thing day after day. Especially if you don’t perceive a purpose.

And purposeful living is hard if you don’t seem to be getting much in the way of results. And spreading the word of Jesus in prison was like chipping away at a marble block with your thumbnail.

Somebody in our prison Bible study was always coming up with different ideas about evangelizing on the compound. And there is no doubt that it was a target rich environment. Lots of lost in prison! But it was a challenge since the interest level outside our little group generally hovered around none. We came up with all kinds of crazy ideas, but my favorite was giving out scraps of paper with Bible verses on them in the morning when everybody left the building. Man, that yard in front of the building looked like it had snowed from people throwing them on the ground. Our most successful effort was giving away little packets of assorted candies with Bible verses to everyone at Christmas. Remembering it I laugh because I overheard someone say, “Hey the Christians are giving out candy, better get some before they run out.” Yea, it was a target rich environment but not an easy one at all.

But sometimes you could be surprised, one time a friend of mine came to me and asked me about my faith and even though he wasn’t ready to commit, he wanted to know more about it. I was shocked! I’d heard someone mention Jesus around him before and he promptly shut that conversation down. He was kind of mad at the world in prison, and since he was essentially there because he’d made the wrong enemy, he probably had a good reason. He and I were good friends but never in my wildest dreams would I have envisioned him coming and asking about Jesus.

I thought maybe God was finally moving a little after all the work we’d put in. So, I put together a rough outline for him that started with the sinner’s prayer and continued with a forty-day program of pursuing God. Gods always honored forty days of sacrifice in the Bible, so I outlined a plan that included Bible reading, morning quite time, and obedience. I felt then and now that God will meet anyone who sincerely pursues Him. So anyway, I gave this program to my friend with reserved but high expectations. I was, of course, expecting God to deliver a life shattering revelation and lighting bolt change in my friend.

Instead………..nothing happened!

He didn’t really say no but didn’t really say yes. Just nothing. Weeks and months went by and finally he left prison. I assumed it was a just a bust!

My time in prison when I was so desperately in need, I felt closer to God than any time before or since. But I never saw a single sinner change and commit to following Jesus. It was frustrating to see no results. Sure, there was a ton of personal growth but most of us wanted to share what we’d found. But it’s hard to keep sharing when you feel like you're banging your head against a wall.

Most of us followers aren’t preachers or evangelists, we spend most of our time at work, doing kid stuff, grocery shopping, or doing this or that in our normal ordinary life. Who has time to do any work for Jesus? Even if you make the time, is any of it making a difference?

I’ve asked these questions for years now, just wondering if any of my efforts changed anything. I know God’s will is immutable and He will have who He will have. So why does He need me? Recently, He clarified that for me.

You remember that friend in prison who asked me about Jesus, but nothing ever came of it. Two weeks ago, he emailed me and told me that God caused the seed planted in prison to grow, and he had given his life to Christ and was a new man because of it.

When I got his email I thought, “Man, God sure does play a long game!” The truth is you may think your life is filled with mundane superfluous junk and all the while God’s painting a masterpiece in it. Every chance encounter, every flip word, and every casual action in our everyday ordinary lives……God can use! No doubt, God’s will is immutable, but for some bizarre reason He invites us to participate in His work! Me……Enlisted to help people get to Heaven? Talk about under-qualified!

But He keeps telling me that He’ll take care of the final score if I’ll just get in the game!

What about you?

Keep following!