Prison Ministry - Day one

This past weekend I went on a prison ministry trip to KY.  For anyone that doesn't know what I do, I go with a team of men from Sevier Heights Baptist Church into prisons in TN, KY, AL, and FL.  We play softball against the inmates and tell them about Jesus.  We get to spend time with them and build relationships.  I know that there are people out there that believe we should be doing other types of ministry because criminals "shouldn't get extra privaleges".  The fact is that in Matt 25 Jesus is pretty clear regarding prison ministry.  

Saturday, we saw several men saved.  I was a little disappointed because as of the last 1/3 of the day, I hadn't made a difference in anyone's life.  We were at Little Sandy prison and we had gone in for dinner at 3:30.  After dinner we had another 90 minutes before we could go back out to the yard where the softball field is so this gave us more time to spend with the prison softball players.  Our team and theres did different things to pass the time.  Some played basketball, some played corn-hole and some just hung out and talked.  

I was tired so all I felt like doing was sitting so I found an inmate to talk to.  I sat down with a guy named "Blue".  Blue and I talked for about 30 minutes about softball.  Then the Holy Spirit began to move on both of us.  Blue is from a town just outside of Memphis so I asked him what brought him to Kentucky.  He said "well, running dope and murder".  Thats when Blue opened up.  Blue is 41 and has been in prison for 19 years for murder.  He was saved in October of 2011 and for the last 6 months there has been strange things happening in his life.  He has found himself to be more compassionate to people and he is able to forgive when just a few years ago, there is no way he would forgive.   With all of this, there was still something wrong.  He said that he wanted to be closer to God but something wasn't right.

The Holy Spirit immediately revealed to me that He is working on Blue and that's why he has saw the recent changes.  He also showed me that the reason Blue is unsettled is because he hasn't forgiven himself.  I didn't beat around the bush.  When I brought it up, we spoke for a second and then he started crying.  He said "look at me!  what's wrong with me, I've never cried before".  Blue acknowledged that he had so much remorse for his crime that he doesn't think it is possible for him to forgive himself.  I explained to him that if he got saved God has forgiven him and he agreed.  I told him that by not forgiving himself, he is exalting himself above God and we talked about that for a while.  

When it was time to go back to the field I knew that God had worked through me and through Blue.  God was so good to us this weekend.  If God can provide hope to an inmate that is facing 7 more years to life in prison, imagine what he can do for you if you let him.

I love you and God does too!

John