God brings His light...

• Pray for my family, friends and my peers, also me.  I been in lots of stress for no reason and also sad, I need God to help me.  Please pray for me.  ~ Ivan
• Can you pray for my girl and my grandma and my uncle.  ~ Louis
• My mom is starting to get arthritus and her leg is getting worse and hurting her.  ~ Sterling
• Can you pray for my family and for my friend to make sure he here's good news about his conditions.  Can you pray over Renee family and her brother give him strength to overcome his weakness and knowledge and wisdom.  Pray over Mike and Susie and their family.  Can you pray over me and my struggles and my anger problems.  I would like to have knowledge and power.  Wisdom and my sickness.  ~ Kemone

It's interesting how different I feel when we exit the youth prison each time.  Sometimes I feel energized and joyful, sometimes I feel empty, last night I felt painfully sad but fully aware that God was with me.

Prison is a dark and dreary place.  Other than the flyers on the wall, there is no color.  The clothing is grey, the lights are dim, the surroundings are sterile and safe.  It is a sad place.  It's no wonder Ivan is sad and it's no wonder they are lifted up when we arrive because God brings His light and love into that space during our visit.  How can that not be a wonder to behold, even if they haven't yet met Jesus.  I am so blessed by God during these visits and through  those boys.  THEY pray for US.  They are praying for each other, which still moves me deeply. 

A prayerful supporter has donated a New Living Translation Study Bible to us to give to one of the boys.   It even has a zippered leather cover.  It has taken us weeks to get birthday cake approved.  The cross necklaces that we purchased last September are still sitting here in my office waiting to be approved.  But when I asked for approval to give away the Bible, it was back within 48 hours.  God obviously wants to get that Bible into someone's hands.

We have asked the boys who are interested in the Bible to write for us.  We asked them to write what they believe about God and clarified that there are no wrong answers.  We asked them to write why they want this Bible.  When we return in two weeks, they will turn in their writing and before reading them we will select one at random and give the Bible to the author that is selected.

MANY hands went up when I first started talking about the Bible.  Many of them were excited about a Bible that has notes, commentary and history included.  We had asked how many had their own Bibles in the past - and most raised their hands - but I hadn't thought about getting Study Bibles in to them before.  God has opened my eyes to this and we will be working to get our hands on more for them.

I was disappointed that we didn't get to talk to Devon last night about the letters he has received over the last couple weeks from several of you.  God had other plans for Devon last night.  Mike and I will be participating in the Mardi Gras event at the prison tomorrow evening and I hope to get a minute to chat with Devon a little.  Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts with him.  I was also blessed, uplifted and encouraged by the words you shared with him. 

I saw this on Facebook this week... "We slander God by our eagerness to work for Him without [intimately] knowing Him."  -Oswald Chambers.  I want to know God intimately and fulfill His purpose during our visits. 

Mike gives a thoughtful description of last night's visit below.

So- as usual things were not quite what we thought it would be. We arrived and about 5-6 of our young men were in the room. It was cold, and the room seemed a little lifeless to be honest. The guys who were there were glad to see us.

We started out with the usual greetings and small talk. There is an event coming up this Saturday called Mardi Gras another chance for the young guys to just have a little bit of something special. Most of those who were not in the room were off working on getting ready for the event.

We started around with the few who were there, asking about how their week was. Steven as usual was the most vocal and wanted to tell us how he was changing his "style" and he was going to start beating up others. Then he laughed and said just kidding. Steven isn't exactly the most imposing kid there. He does have a long time to go, and will be headed to prison for 15 years when he turns 18 in a few months. He has some serious issues with attention and focus. But regardless, he kind of settled in after a couple minutes and we were introduced to a new young man Joaquin. He came over from another unit to Gibbs. Susie was talking to him, kind of gathering his information when the rest of the young guys returned from their meeting. Well, most of them did. Devon was not with them. Devon was off meeting with the chaplain. But Kemone, the Lyons twins, Anthony, Scott, Sterling, a couple others, the mood in the room lightened considerably. But lots of other things seemed to be going on, the chaplain was there in a different part of the room meeting and so was the "senior" Auggie who is kind of over the ward and the treatment of the young guys.

It just seemed a little disjointed. Susie asked how they liked Renee coming in and they said she was a strong lady and they didn't ask any questions because they felt like her talk had so much information they didn't have any. They were excited when we said she was planning on coming to Mardi Gras and to the orientation on Monday night.

I had decided to talk a little on the good Samaritan and how it wasn't really the religious guys who stopped, but just a common guy doing business. How he gave his time and effort and took time and money from his own life. I also talked about how Jesus was clear that being angry was the same as murdering and lusting was the same as acting. I told them Jesus wants to change both their hearts and their actions.

Susie talked about how next time in we are awarding a Bible. They were very excited about it.

At almost the end Devon came in and was obviously upset. Several of the guys went over and talked to him, but he never came over. We need to continue to uphold him and his family. He has a lot of issues, as most of these young guys do but Devon seems to feel them very deeply.

Kyle Lyons asked for prayer because he is having some kind of breaking out and they can't seem to figure out what it is.

Sterling asked for prayer for his Mom, she is not in good health.

The prayer circle is always the highlight of the night, young men praying for each other, praying for families, for strength, for help to get through another day. The newest young guy Joaquin didn't pray but did join us in the circle. A lot of the guys prayed for Kyle, and for Sterling. It is a blessing to hear them pray.

After prayer, we had a round of hugs and handshakes. Joaquin walked over to Susie and held out his hand when she went to hug him. It was obvious that he didn't want a hug, he was respectful, said thanks and shook both of our hands.. We look forward to seeing him again.

God is teaching these young men so much. I know some of them don't have a lot of visitors but when they start asking you to come and see them soon and come back again, I don't really know how we can say anything other than we would love to. It is a real blessing from God to be able to offer the word of God to these guys.

Learning to love like Jesus,

Mike and Susie