I confess, I tried to get out of it at first. You will always be too busy.
You will always find a reason to not go. And as the date was approaching I thought of many reasons I did not want to go to the State pen for the annual writing contest they sponsor.
Prison ministry is not my calling.
I have others things I am doing.
I am a mom of five children.
My house is a mess.
I did not write the essay yet.
Then I prayed.
And God brought to mind: Matthew 25 –
I was sick and in prison and you came to visit me. . .and the The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
And, I went last Thursday night and it was, like last time two years ago, an impactful experience.
Just the security to begin with was eye opening. You go through all these various check points and through several different bars and gates that are locked and it is eery and a bit nerve wracking.
When you finally get to the spot, you see prisoners coming into the room. They are from the 7-Step program that is offered through The Oregon State Pen, and they want to get better and they want to change. With the 7 step program they are working towards bettering themselves. And the men introduced themselves to us and offered us cookies and milk and we sat down to eat cookies and milk with them.
And then the Essay contest began. This is the third year they have sponsored the Essay contest, and each of us read our essays to the men.
We were to pick from a category to write an essay and then read it outloud. Topics ranged from Can Criminals change their image when they are released to faith healing to forgiveness to harsh punishment. I chose forgiveness. I wrote about Forgiveness and how through Christ we can be forgiven and about the importance of forgiveness and letting go. Big and little things. I shared the passage about how many times should we forgive- 7 times 70, Jesus said.
Many of the men who came to the Essay contest have become believers and they walked over to talk to me about my essay.
I met a gentleman who was kicked out of his house when he was 13 and ended up on the wrong side of a drug deal and is doing a life sentence and I met another young man who got into trouble with the law at age 15 and he did not have a father, he lived with his grandmother and I met another young man who remembered me from two years ago and he was also caught doing drugs.
They were everyday people who sometimes just needed a second chance and a way out and yet they are not being given it.
. . .I made a commitment to go to the prison, and I am glad I followed through. To remember the least-the forgotten-ones.
They asked us to come back and bring more people to write and read essays. The power of the written word. Ours. And the inspired word of God.
