Watching God Do What He Does...

From Mike:

Another night in Norwalk, watching God do what he does.

We always feel so much a part of God's work when we are at Norwalk. I find it amazing to see things unfolding, and God moving before our very eyes. When we got there, many of the young guys were already in place, which is surprising because usually they are kind of all over the place. Many of them held their Bibles, some of them were quick to run up and shake hands or hug us. We usually start out by asking how they are doing but last night one of them said, "How are you guys doing and why didn't you come last week?" and Susie began to talk to them about her health issues. They are always kind of stunned by the way her hands looked. They are curious, will it get better? Can't you get it fixed? Lots of questions. So then we began our jaunt around the room.

Most of the young guys said they were doing okay. A couple talked about seeing us at the carnival/bbq from last Saturday and how much fun it was. We talked again about how many of them are A-Phase and where are they in the process. Many of them are there, a few have paperwork in. A great thing, 3 months of no violations. One of the young guys Manuel joined us a little late. He was obviously upset and had words with a couple of the other guys. Susie reminded them how important respect was. How important love is. After we completed that, I shared a little bit about knowing God- about learning that God for us is represented physically by Jesus.

The first verse we talked about was John 14:9. As always it became a competition over who would get to read. I told them it was an example of Jesus talking about how if you have seen him, you have seen God. That even after 3 years with Jesus, some of the 12 didn't see God yet.

Next we went to John 1:1 - talked about how Jesus is the word and how he was with God always. By now they were really excited about who would get to read next. One young guy who forgot his Bible went over to the bookshelves in the room and found a copy of the Bible. He read from Hebrews 1:3- How Jesus was the EXACT imprint of God. I told them again- if you know Jesus, you know God. I then reminded them about the dark side of seeing Jesus. I asked them to go to Isaiah 52:14 and we read about how Jesus was beyond recognition, about how after He was beaten, spit on, hung from a cross he no longer appeared to be a human form any longer. You could not recognize him. I explained to them that Jesus took our place. We deserve to die a horrible death because of our sin but He didn't.

They always get very quiet and serious when we talk about the cross. I reminded them that Jesus can do everything for us, and we can live through Him. We can live the life the way He wants us to. I had someone read from John 15:5- how without Him we can do NOTHING. I reminded them that we are his sheep and we know His voice from John 10:27 and that once we have asked Him into our lives He will take care of us like a good shepherd.

After that it was time for prayer. Some of the guys are very strong in their prayers, some barely pray at all. But most of them are respectful and they do pray for each other. They always pray for us, they usually pray for the guys who are sick. I reminded them to pray for those in authority over them. When we got done praying I told them that they all need to love and take care of each other. That they are all they have. Susie ended up talking with Manuel. I sat for a while with Michael who was telling me that the closer he gets to being out(August) the more he feels like Satan attacks him. I reminded him of 1st Peter 5:8 where Satan roams like a lion waiting to devour. I told him that Jesus is more powerful and always is there to help us. He was very emotional about it and said he wants to be ready. I told him I would be praying for him.

God bless you and thanks for all your prayers. They make a huge difference as you can see.

From Susie:

It was good to see the boys last night.  On our way through the facility, we ran into Kelly - the psychologist.  She gave us a heads up that there will be a "Town Hall Meeting" with all of the inmates on Monday evening and the boys have already heard rumors that the facility will be closing - probably before the end of the year.  We were surprised that the boys didn't mention it while we were there.  I wonder what will happen to the boys when the facility closes?

We had two new boys last night - Felipe and Michael P.  Felipe was very happy to receive his new Bible and wrote a beautiful thank you note.  We gave one to Michael also - but he left his in his chair when he left, so we brought it back home.  We can already tell that Michael has a very tough exterior... 

There were 20 in the group last night - Devon joined us last night for the first time in awhile.  It was good to see him and he had a big, warm hug for me before we left. 

Henry will be released on June 15.  Please pray for him as he transitions back into society.  He is a very quiet, very gentle soul.  We look forward to being able to see him "outside".

Anthony was in the room when we arrived, but left as soon as we started talking about A-Level status. 

Manual entered the room late.  He hasn't joined us for several months, but always says hello.  I could see how much he was hurting as soon as he walked in and asked him if we could chat after the group meeting.  Manuel is a typical "tough guy"... lots of tattoos and outer indications of being tough and hard.  But as soon as we started talking, his tears started to fall.  I know I asked for prayer last night, but please continue to pray for Manuel. He has a long time to go...

Kyle's medical treatment is still sort of confusing.  He hasn't had the procedure he expected to have a month ago -but they did another biopsy.  Now he's waiting for results again.  He did give me his attorney's phone number and email address last night so that I can contact him and ask if he will help us get better, more timely care for Kyle.  Kyle has gained some of the weight back that he had lost - he was down about 30 pounds, and now it's only about 20.  He also needs your prayers...

Learning to love like Jesus,

Mike and Susie

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Here are the written prayer requests:

Can you pray over my mom.  She turns 35 on June 18th and grandmother, she is sick and Renee's family - give them knowledge, power, wisdom.  Can you pray over Mike and Susie and Kyle and Louie's grandmother, sister and Aden.  And over the youth and the DJJ family.  And last and final myself, Kemone D.  Give me power, knowledge, wisdom.  Thank you.

~ Kemone

Can you pray for Kemone because he's going to the pen and can you pray for my brother Kyle and pray for my mom grandma and for my sister.

~ Louis