April 9, 2015
It's nearly 1 am, and I've only now finished the day's work. I don't often put in days like today, for which I am very thankful. It was Day One of this year's Keryx prison ministry; pretty low key at first. It will intensify tomorrow. We were done and back at the church where the team stays the night by ten or ten-thirty. Chapel, then supper, followed by rehearsing the music for tomorrow, which was quite a challenge with the arrangements being written in two different keys, depending on which book we used, and the fact that Dick and I had not played together before. After that, I had to address fifty four letters to the inmates. So, it's late.
I am struck again this year as I was last time, with the brief biographies the men told us in their introductions. We went around giving names, where we're from, family, what we do for a living, and hobbies. So many of the men spoke of wives, children, grandchildren, aged parents whom they loved and missed. If you were to pass them on the street, you'd never guess they had spent time in prison. So many destinies impacted by a decision made in anger, under the influence, or in desperation. I thought of the children they left behind, who are growing up without them, but also of those who needed the slap in the face that prison gave them, to turn their lives around. I am missing my granddaughter's musical debut to be here. Fortunately, I was able to make the dress rehearsal last night. There are men here who are missing much more than a granddaughter's musical. They are missing out on whole years of their children's lives. But there are also men here who gave up their freedom in society, only to find it in Christ during their stay here. I am grateful it didn't take prison to open my eyes, and am grateful for the opportunity to minister to, and to learn from these men who are learning the hard way what it means to be a man of God.
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