I Need To...

   When I sit down to read, pray, meditate and write in the mornings, I expect to find in the Scripture passage some comforting words, but often find an exhortation to do something or other that I already have on my radar and have just put off because it is not convenient.

   Such is the case today.

   There is a letter on my desk that needs answering, but it is not just a letter, it is a friendship that has developed over the years, one that needs more than a letter and a few minutes of my time, it needs my attention and concern to a greater degree than that.

   I need to make a trip to prison. I need to show that I really care about a man that is incarcerated here, in Lee State Prison, Leesburg, GA.

   This is not a convenient thing to do. This place is 4 hours west of here, and so it is a journey that will take a whole day to accomplish, but as I read in Matthew's Gospel this morning:

" I was in prison and you came to me."

   I need to go.

   I met a man in Ware State Prison back in the 90s when I worked in the Kairos prison ministry. He and I hit it off and have kept in touch with each other for all the years after that. I have even visited him in other GA prisons as he has been moved around, but since he has been in Lee, I have not gone.

   He is in for life, and, what family he has, lives pretty far away. He needs a friend on the outside, and I can be that one for him. His crime may not let him taste the free life for the rest of his days on earth, but perhaps I can encourage him on his Christian walk.

   From what I can see of prison life two of the major hangups for the inmates is a lack of communication with the outside and a corresponding feeling that really no one cares about them anyway. They become just a number in a system and are forgotten and know it.

   But they are human beings, made in God's image. Sure they have done some mean and nasty things, but some have also found forgiveness from God while serving time, and they are trying to live for him in that environment. A lot of times this is a hostile environment, and God can, and will, help them live there, but maybe I can help, too.

   So I will write him today. I need to ask him which Saturday in the month is the best one for him, and to make sure that I am on his visitation list, but that will tell him what I plan to do.

   Then I am committed to do everything in my power to make that visit. Not out of duty, but out of love for a friend, and for his God whom he serves there.

   And for the chance in a few months to write another blog about that visit.

   Look for it.