GOD MOMENT: Yesterday, I visited San Quentin Federal Prison. One young mans story really weighed heavy on my heart this morning, so I know thats The Lord leading me to share this story with you. Before we get into the conversation with this young man, I need to start from the beginning to show you how our meeting took place. The team was just me and Pastor George, an inspiring man of God that has been serving in prison ministry at San Quentin for over 20 years. On our short walk from the visitor parking lot to the visitor check point, Pastor George led us in a quick prayer. The sun was shining and the weather was gorgeous. He said, Father God, thank You for giving us the opportunity to minister Your Word today. Lead us to whoever You want us to talk to. Thank you for Joseph on my side and this beautiful day. We praise Your name. Glory to God. Amen! After that short prayer, I felt a little like Kurt Russell in the final battle scene of Big Trouble in Little China...invincible. After passing through two more security check points, we entered the cell block that the Spirit led us to minister to. It was a 5 level building with cells from floor to ceiling. 2 prisoners in a cell smaller than the average walk in closet. The sound in the cell block was deafening at times with a cacophony of inmates yelling at the top of their lungs. Some were yelling out random things, but most were making deals with other inmates trading pre-stamped envelopes called longs (the currency of the prison system) for commissary items. All this distracting background noise was what our words had to compete with. As we walked toward the staircase that connected the 5 tiers, one of the inmate workers on the clean up crew yelled, Tier 3! Tier 3 is clean! So we climbed the stairs to tier 3, and from there we went cell to cell asking if they wanted a pamphlet or needed prayer. The first inmate that really wanted to talk to us is the story Im sharing. After introducing ourselves, this young man said, You know I try to do good, and try to read the Bible but Im not a real good reader. Sometimes the words are big and I dont understand what Im reading. I said, You know bro, just start with the book of John because he doesnt use big words. From his writings, you will also learn that he had to be at the side of Jesus constantly. So you can get a very detailed picture of who Jesus was. Start with that gospel and your spiritual vocabulary will grow from there. Pastor George said, Yes, starting with the book of John will show you the kind of love Jesus had for all of us, and from that love- the rest of the Bible can become more real to you. Youve got to know that God has more planned for you than this prison cell. Right? The young man said, I dont know. I hope He does. Pastor George asked, Well, how many of your friends are dead? The young man said, Too many. Pastor George said, Then dont you think that you being alive is a wake up call for you. Dont you think that God is talking to you, trying to get you to walk the right path? The young man said, I guess so. I have a wife and daughter, and I want to do good, but when I drink ...things usually get all messed up. Pastor George asked, Why are you in here anyway? The young man said, Well I was drunk, and I ran from the cops. I pulled a gun out, and there was a standoff. There were 47 cops pointing their guns at me. And right before I was going to shoot, something told me This is not you. I threw the gun down, and I lied down on the floor. Pastor George said, Youve got to know that that something was God talking to you right? He has more than this cell planned for you. You could have pulled that trigger and you would have woken up in hell. How long you got in here? The young man said, I was looking at 28 years, but I confessed to everything and they dropped it to 14, then to 7, then to 4- so Im probably going to serve 2 more years with good behavior. I said, Bro, thats Gods mercy right there. If you brandished a weapon in some other state, you would be dead right now. Its a miracle that they didnt shoot you for showing your piece. And to be doing only 2 more years for all of that, that is Gods mercy. Thats God talking to you. After this conversation, Pastor George asked him if he would like to make a commitment to get to know The Lord better. The young man agreed and together we prayed for his future. After praying, he said, I feel like Im going to to cry. I said, Thats the Holy Spirit, bro. Thats God showing you Hes real. Read the gospel of John, and Hell continue to become more real. He said to the both of us, Thank you. God bless you guys. Throughout the conversation, I kept thinking, Thank you Lord for guiding us to this young man that is hungry for Your presence. We could have gone to any cell block or any of the 5 tiers, but tier 3 was in fact clean, as the inmate worker said at the beginning. We had many more conversations and God moments that day, but this one really weighed on me this morning. The thing that completely baked my noodle happened after we left the prison. I texted someone very close to me that served time at San Quentin recently. Would you like to take a guess what building and tier he did his time in? Out of the numerous buildings, cell blocks and tiers in the prison, he did his time in the exact building and tier that The Lord sent us to. He texted, Thats exactly where I was! I texted back, Thats God revealing Himself again. He wanted me to see exactly where you were. I had no control over where we went. Thats just where we were led to go. Conclusion: Jesus is an Awesome Wonder, Who gifts me an endless supply of material to write and testify about. No other name can heal, deliver or restore like Jesus. Be encouraged yall because He is most definitely alive!
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:27:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015