I am sitting at my desk and watching inmates go by my window. I wonder who they are. I wonder what their life was like before they got here. Were both parents around? Did they come from a loving home? Did they finish high school? Are they blessed with a high level of intelligence that was never fully applied? Do they have faith? Were they abused? Were they using drugs? What do they think about their crime? Have they changed? So many questions. Sometimes I get to find out, but the truth is that I have walked along side of thousands and thousands of inmates and have never come to know a thing about them. So, I am watching them pass my window and as each one passes, I find myself saying, “God loves you”. It is not the typical thing that someone might think when looking at an inmate. We see them and we usually put them in context. There goes an inmate. There goes an inmate.
I can’t help thinking that they started off just like me. God gave them life and they grew in their mother’s womb. God considered them in the womb and said, “There is my miracle” God watched as they were born and thought, “Now, go and live. Do what is right. Make me proud. I love you”. He watched them grow and He wanted what was best for them. He thought, “Go to school. Learn about my world. Treat people kindly. Love much. Forgive often. Serve others. Find out who I am.” He observed them getting into trouble. He thought, “No, that is not the way. Don’t do that. Live honestly. Don’t hurt others. You are breaking my heart my child. This is not what I want for you.”
Now he sees them in their cell. He thinks, “I tried to warn you. It is not too late. You can still turn your life around. I love you. You can make my world better. Turn your heart towards me. Find out what is good. There is still hope. Trust in me, and I will guide you”.
Now they pass by my window. I am saying, “God loves you”. God is saying to them, “I love you”. He still wants to redeem them. To change them. To use them in His service.
Don’t give up on those incarcerated. God is calling them to a better life. Let’s join in the call.
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:11-29
For Jesus,
Rob