Words, Again Today

   Several things are jumping out at me from this Scripture in Mark chapter one.

     wilderness
     preparation
     voice
     affirmation
     angels ministering

   My first thought as I relate to this Scripture on this morning is to equate the wilderness, the one that John was preaching in, to the prison that I will be going into in a couple of weeks time. In all of the meetings this Kairos team has had, the fact has been pointed out that this prison, this time around, is not the same place I have gone into before. It has been a year since I went in, and the environment has changed, and not for the better.

   Not only is the prison different this time, but our team is different, comprised of a bunch of new guys that have not gone in before, my talk is different, my role is different and there is a distinctly new feel to the whole weekend. In short, it is a new game.

   So how does all of this difference make me think about the role God wants me to play? The word preparation holds one of the keys to a successful mission. I need to prepare much differently than I have done in the past. Sometimes I have a tendency to wing it since I have done it so many times in the past, but that will not cut it this time around. Preparation in material, but most of all preparation in time with God and in prayer. That is the voice that I need to hear.

   When the doors clang shut on Thursday afternoon, and on each successive morning of the weekend, we will need the angels of God ministering to us and for us on our behalf. God will go before us and prepare the hearts of those men that will come in to be with us on those four days, but I need help with my role to make it the time for the inmates that God wants them to have.

   Finally, I want to hear from the inmates, at the end of the weekend, that God has blessed them in mighty ways, that they are different on Sunday afternoon than they were on Thursday night. That will be the affirmation that we all seek:

   "You are my son and I am well pleased with what you have done".

   Oh, that it may be so.