When will it happen...

From Mike:

"When will it happen, how do you know?"

One of the things that happens when we go to Norwalk is we never really know what is going to happen. Last night, we were a little late getting in because of one of our group being held back. God was good and provided us a few minutes to pray and then we went in.

The group of young men seems to grow every time we go. God is truly blessing us by adding more young guys who are willing to sit and listen to us talk about God. When we arrived we were able to meet and greet for a couple minutes. Kyle came in to the room really struggling to walk as he had his surgery done last Friday.  It was obvious he was in pain and he is supposed to go back to the doctor on Monday the 25th of July for a follow-up.

Kemone was there and asked about his birthday party coming up on the 26th. He will turn 18 and then soon after will be going to Adult Prison.  A lot of them asked if we were coming to the event on Saturday afternoon.  Tom, Susie and I are planning on going if God is willing.

We went around the room and asked each to tell us how they are doing. It is usually kind of a time of helping them settle in, and gain a little focus. After they got done, we started talking about the night's topic of "what makes you feel safe." One young guy said "I do, but I lean on God for it." Another answered with "peace." I asked what he meant, but he only responded with peace. So I told them that Jesus gives me peace.

I asked for people to read some verses. One of the guys started by reading 2nd Corinthians 4:8-10. I talked a bit about how many things can happen to us, but with Jesus in us, we will always have life. That is when the blessings from God started. One of the guys who has come to Thursday nights named Gilbert said, "I have a question." He asked, "How long does it take when we ask God for help."  I told him God hears us right away and answers in His time. I told him the answer was not always what we want to hear but we can have peace knowing Jesus is with us. I told him if I died today, I would immediately see Jesus interceding with God and talking about the things that I have done in my life. Renee had some rich comments for him also. I felt like he would have talked to us all night about it.

We spent a few more minutes talking about how God knows what we need and provides for us. How He meets us where we are. Great discussion.  I think all the young guys benefited from it. It is not an easy place to be. It is always a time of excitement when the young guys start to read. We have arguments over who gets to read the Bible next. What a great sense of humor God has. Having these young men in Prison arguing over who gets to read the Bible next. So we read Romans 8:31-38. We talked about nothing separating us from the love of God. Time for another challenging question. One of the guys, Michael, who has been with us probably from the start asked us about when can he start knowing he is a Christian. He said some people come in and say he has to read the Bible, he has to pray, he has to do this or that. We talked about how it is all about grace. It is not about what we do. I told him the Bible is the word of God so if we want to know Him we need to read His word. But if we are only reading it because someone tells us to do it, we are missing a lot. We talked about repenting. About how no matter how far you run, if you turn around and ask God for forgiveness you are with Him. God was in the middle of this because the next group of verses was John 10:25-30, nothing can snatch us from our Father's hand. I was able to look at Michael and say, "Once we are his, nothing can snatch us from His hand." How great is our God indeed.

We closed with Ephesians 2:13:20, which talks about how Jesus is our peace. It was time for prayer circle. A BIG prayer circle with four of us and 24 of them. Lots of prayers to keep them from temptation and people bothering them. Lots of prayers for Kemone for leaving to the penitentiary soon. Prayers for the volunteers. Prayers for Kyle and Louie. Praying for the strength for another day.

After all that we had a few minutes to just kind of talk to a few of them one on one. It was good, lots of talk about the Saturday Peace and Unity event. I honestly sometimes am stunned at how much happens in one hour, because I am sure there was more than an hour of discussion and prayer. God has His ways. That is for sure. What a blessing.

From Susie:

As is typical, we had a little trouble getting all four of us cleared to enter last night.  But as usual, God cleared the way.  We were delighted to find that the air conditioning has been repaired on the unit and it was actually cool and comfortable where we meet.  Since the group has gotten so big, we asked the boys to rearrange the rows of chairs and create a circle.  It was a very disjointed and odd shaped circle, but at least we could see everyone's faces.  It was SO good to be there last night!!

I love going around the room and asking each boy how he's doing, telling him it's good to see him and I'm glad he's joined us.  It takes awhile to get this done since the group has gotten so big, but it gives me a chance to connect with each boy, at least for a moment. 

When I asked Lamour how the Bible reading is going (he's reading from cover to cover), he grabbed a Bible and showed Mike and I where he is in Psalm 119, the long psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible.  He talked about the "funny words" in this Psalm and said he is currently reading " Qoph."  I'll send him a letter this week and explain the "funny words," that they represent the Hebrew alphabet.  My conversation with Lamour led me to search this out for myself, as I never knew this before!!

Kyle was having a lot of discomfort last night and even felt a little feverish when we held hands in the prayer circle.  I have requested clearance for our friend Kathy to enter with us for the Peace and Unity event tomorrow.  Please pray that she will be cleared and able to go with us - we want her to be able to visit with Kyle.  My heart is heavy for Kyle... but his prayers to God last night were sincere in his pleas for strength and help. 

Even as my heart was heavy for Kyle last night, I was absolutely ecstatic about Gilbert's participation.  He not only joined us, which only happens occasionally, he actually asked a question last night.  Gilbert is a gang member, has tattoos on his face and works very hard to maintain his "image" with the group.  He was present when we distributed Bibles and he declined (as Manuel did!).  But last night, Gilbert asked questions about God, engaged in the discussion with Mike, spent time talking one-on-one with Tom about Christianity, and left the room with his own Bible.  My heart was singing!! 

There were many, many hugs last night.  And the prayer circle, although BIG, still amazes me with the arms around each other's shoulders for most of them.  It never fails that at some point during the prayer circle, it becomes very, very quiet.  The prayers at that time are very personal and sincere and you can feel the Spirit moving in the room.  I love the prayer circle.

We received MANY donations for the Peace and Unity event tomorrow.  THANK YOU so much for your generosity!  I wish we could take pictures to share with you, but that's not allowed.  I will send a brief update after the event tomorrow to let you know how it goes.  Parents are not invited this time, only volunteers.  We are honored to be included.

During the time that we are on the unit, there are abundant challenges.  I am constantly saying, "Shhh!" or "Hey! Quiet down!" or explaining that they need to be respectful.  We see things and hear things that are obviously not the best.  Even Gilbert said to Mike last night, "The worst of the worst are here in this place."  Yet in the midst of it all, God shows His presence and does His work every single time we are there.  We are still amazed by each visit and humbled by being able to watch Him at work during the minutes we spend with the boys and seeing Him reach those who we don't think are reachable.  We also love having Tom and Renee joining us on Thursdays.  It's fascinating to us that at the same time that the group became so large, God provided Tom and Renee to join us.  His plans are perfect!

Gilbert's question to Mike last night was, "When I ask God for help, how long does it take?"  If you feel so moved, I would love for you to reply to this message and let me know how you would answer that question.  And if you feel  moved to write to Gilbert directly, let me know and I'll send you his mailing address.

Learning to love like Jesus,

Mike and Susie

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Prayer Requests

With so much going on last night, we forgot to pass the prayer book around, but we would still like to ask for prayer for the following:

·         Pray for Kyle's healing and for strength

·         Pray for Kemone as he turns 18 next week and will soon be moved to the adult prison in Chino.

·         Pray for Kathy to be able to enter the facility with us on Saturday

·         Pray for Michael who goes before the Board on Monday, then again in August

·         Pray for Mark - he thinks he's being moved to the Stockton facility soon

·         Pray for Ramiro - he goes before the Board end of August or early September to find out his release date

·         Pray for the facility staff as they are learning more about how their jobs will change, where they will have to work, etc when the facility closes