Month: October 2019

April 2018 Letter

(Excerpt from a letter)

Greetings Brother,

Thanks for the notice on your parole board hearing. I’ve marked my calendar and will be praying for you. I know that you have done all that you can to prepare and will interview well.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your brothers as you prepare for the upcoming KERYX* weekend. What will happen will be life changing for everyone involved. The lost will find what they are looking for. The spiritually hungry will be fed. Servants will get better at serving. Spiritual mentors will meet new disciples. Leaders will have their leadership tested.

Funny how that works. That’s probably why the Apostle Paul cautions those who would aspire to be leaders in I Timothy 3. My observation is that leadership is often a thankless task that involves the arcane skill of herding cats. Christian leaders do it from their knees with their hands firmly clasped together and their heads bowed. While this sounds like a Zen thing it is really a Sinai thing. Moses is the archetype of a Christian leader. His leadership ability was recognized in the Old Testament in Psalms 106, the New Testament in Hebrews 11:23-28, and in the Apocrypha in Sirach 45:1-5. (Yes, I really did reference the Apocrypha.) The characteristics of Christian leadership that he modeled include:

  1. Standing in the gap for your flock.
  2. Speaking only the words given to you by God.
  3. Leading only where God’s Spirit guides.
  4. You will take heat for your leadership from the people, it’s about how you handle the heat.
  5. Leaders are called by God to serve.
  6. Believe in miracles.
  7. Fast and Pray!
  8. Not all leaders will make it to the promised land.
  9. A leaders responsibility is to prepare the next generation of leaders.

Use your final months wisely. Leave your mark on prison rather than letting prison leave it’s mark on you. Even while you are looking forward, don’t forget to keep you head on a swivel.

Your Brother in Christ

*Keryx is a lay-led, non-profit, interdenominational, Christian  ministry using the Cursillo method, designed to be conducted in any correctional institution without substantive change in format or procedure.

The purpose of Keryx Ministries is the Christianization of the correctional institution or community through the actions of small apostolic prayer support groups, trained and encouraged by Keryx volunteers, working within their environment. Through a systematic, structured program, the participants are given the opportunity to experience a religious renewal and to accept God’s call to a life of Christian witness and service to one another .

Keryx has been called the most effective program at changing basic attitudes of the incarcerated currently offered in prisons.  This statement has been said over and over again by prison administrators where the ministry has been active long enough for its impact on the institution to have been evaluated by correctional staff.

Keryx is a highly structured program that promotes solid Christian life-skills.  The program builds a positive and loving environment.  Keryx calls upon a spirituality that has long been dormant in many of the resident leaders within the institution.

keryx.org website

A Meditation on the Aspects of Prayer

(An attachment to the Summer 2018 News Letter)

I don’t often get distracted from listening to the pastor’s sermon while sitting in the church service.  I take notes and engage as an active listener to hear what God has for me as the Word is preached.  However, this week it was the congregational prayer that got me thinking.  As I listened to Pastor Sheila bringing forth specific needs and then leading us to the throne of grace, thoughts began to coalesce and take shape in my mind about the nature of prayer.  In my recent devotions I have been reading the collected works of Andrew Murray on prayer.  According to him prayer is every Christian’s responsibility and that regular, routine prayer is both the sign of a healthy spiritual life and the source of a believer’s power.

Meditation for me is the process by which I take information gathered from various sources and my life’s experience and organize them into a coherent form by which I can understand a topic by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in order to incorporate the concepts into my life.  As the concepts came to me I jotted them down in the back cover of my sermon notebook.  They came in no particular order and as with all meditations have needed some time to organize and flesh out from bullet points to complete statements.  My initial meditation lasted only 20 minutes and while it was very productive in laying out my thoughts, I know it is nothing compared to those like Andrew Murray who are far wiser than I and have spent their lives contemplating prayer.  But I share it as an exercise to stimulate your own contemplation on what prayer means to you.

As I wrote my reflections I identified 3 major aspects that describe the relational nature of prayer as I’ve experienced it.  Prayer is often intercessory, it is an act of two-way communication, and incorporates both the attributes of humanity and divinity.  For each of these aspects I identified characteristics to describe them.  I am not talking about the actual parts of a prayer, the mechanics of how to pray, or the different types of prayers.  Rather this is a look at the relational aspects of prayer between us and God, us and man, and God and man.

We pray to God on behalf of others (and ourselves), God speaks/acts towards us, and God also speaks/acts towards others.  We have concerns for others and others often ask us to pray on their behalf.  This reflects the way Jesus taught the Disciples in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.

Prayer is…

A.     An Intercessory Act that encompasses the:

  1. International, national, and local communities we live in.
  2. Public and private aspects of life.
  3. Secular and sacred circles in which we interact.
  4. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of individuals.
  5. Expression of both spoken and unspoken needs, wants, and desires.
  6. Time frame for actions that are both contemporary and eternal in scope.
  7. First act of hope and the last act of desperation in times of trouble.
  8. Passionate desire and compassionate intent to see God’s kingdom.
  9. Action of man in reaction to situations beyond our control both in the reality of today and our expectations for tomorrow.

B. Two-way Communication:

  1. Between humans and the Divine.
  2. Involving a call and response.
  3. Whether it is cried out loud, spoken in a whisper, or uttered in silence.
  4. That is occasionally eloquent but frequently tongue-tied.
  5. Regarding things asked for and received.
  6. Often asking questions and seeking answers.
  7. In which we remember the past and envision the future.
  8. Of ideas hidden in our hearts and yet already known to God.
  9. Best described as a child speaking to a parent and a parent speaking back to a child.
  10. Acknowledging our weakness and God’s strength.
  11. Expresses our heart broken condition and our heart-felt plea.

C. The intersection between Man’s attributes and God’s character:

  1. Man is broken and downtrodden by the cares of the world. God’s joyful response heals and uplifts us.
  2. Man’s desperate cry for help is heard by God whose peaceful Spirit comforts us.
  3. Man is powerless in his situation and reaches out to an all-powerful God for assistance.
  4. Frequently faithless man needs the reassurance of a faithful God.
  5. Man’s foolishness is often the source of his trouble and wisdom from God is the solution.
  6. Finite man is impatient for answers from the infinite God who is perseverant in responding.
  7. Uncertainty is the way of life for man while God is confident in all his ways.
  8. Man’s ignorance is far from blissful and only God’s knowledge can bring a state of contentment.
  9. Isolated and lonely man craves God’s familial relationship.
  10. Man’s sinful nature can communicate with a perfect God only by His grace.

Prayer is a personal experience, no two people will have exactly the same encounter with God.  Our own experiences change over time as our spiritual health and maturity are not static.  Only God never changes.  Periods of spiritual dryness and silence in response to our prayers is a well-documented fact for even the most devote believers.  But Scripture is clear that this is only our perspective.  God will never leave us or forsake us.  We just need to trust and obey the admonition to pray without ceasing.

Summer 2018 News Letter

Greetings Brother,

It is officially summer so it is time for my summer letter. As the weather heats up I pray that cooler heads will prevail and that there will be peace where you are. The last thing I am sure that anyone wants is to be both hot and bothered by others who aren’t dealing well with the heat. Stay frosty my friend. Staying cool even under pressure never makes the situation worse, only better for everyone.

I just celebrated my 54th birthday. I blew out the candles in one breath. However, there was probably more wax than frosting on the cake. My annual physical finds me in good health. Praise God! I’ve ridden my exercise bike so much this year that I had to replace the ball bearings in the crank shaft and the tension wheel. The bike was so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. It sounded like nuts and bolts in a blender and it got louder the harder I peddled. Now it is whisper quiet. I find great satisfaction in being able to take things apart, successfully repairing them, and then putting it back together.

How often in life have we found ourselves in a place where we can’t fix what we’ve broken? Why can’t relationships be as easy to fix as a toaster? Is it because there is no manual? Actually there is: the Bible. The problem is we don’t study it enough. We also fail to understand that it’s not about fixing others but our own part in relationships. Sure, you can lead others to Christ but you can’t save them. They must enter into relationship with Jesus of their own free will.

The same is true in our relationships with other people. We are only responsible for our part. Whether it is our parents, siblings, spouse, children, friends, coworkers or anyone we interact with, we can’t control them. Control is an illusion. Only God in in control. We have to accept others with the same unconditional love that we ourselves desire.

For Believers prayer is the key to relationships. Every situation and person looks different when seen in the light God’s mercy and grace. So if your cell mate is driving you crazy or you’re having problems on the home front, set the issues before the throne of the Almighty and let Him reveal the answer. Persevere in prayer. The answers may not come automatically. Keep on praying and seek the direction of the Holy Spirit to make sure that you are praying for the right thing. In other words, ask for direction to ensure that what you are seeking is in God’s will. The Bible will provide direction for many things in general and for specific issues listen for the still small voice. The one that can only be heard when we stop talking and truly listen for the voice of God.

Know that I am praying for you and you are not forgotten.

Your Brother in Christ

August 2018 Letter

(Excerpt from a letter)

Greetings Brother,

My pastor has been preaching this summer on the concept of Joy. James 1:3 says, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of various kinds.” The Apostle Paul wrote a lot about joy too. In Philippians 4:4 he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: Rejoice!” He wrote these words from prison. He didn’t have a sick sense of humor or a masochistic streak, he truly believed it.

Joy is a feeling of gladness and rejoicing is the expression of that feeling. Trials build Godly character and we should be thankful to be counted worthy. It is thankfulness that brings joy. The problem is that we humans have such limited perspective that when we are going through trials we have a hard time seeing the big picture. We lack the eternal perspective. We just wish we weren’t considered so special. Well, I’m here to tell you that you are special. Like it or not.

Your Brother in Christ

Fall 2018 News Letter

Greetings Brother,

We have reached the dog days of summer. Around my house the cicadas are buzzing in the trees, the grass is brown and if I wasn’t watering every couple of days the flowers would be dead. With the Labor Day holiday upon us serving as the warning that summer is almost over. Or for your sports fans football season starts!

It’s funny how we use events to mark the passage of time in our lives. Some are trivial like sports, others are earth shattering like the death of a loved one, or the one that we are all most familiar with is going to prison. The important thing is that the events must have a personal meaning. The times in our lives that are a blur are the ones that don’t have any memorable events to provide a time frame. As I heard it expressed once, “Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”

The question becomes what are you doing to create those all important milestones? In a place where the daily routine is monotonous by design what can you do? My friend Daniel would say you can do an in-depth Bible study or book by a classic Christian author like C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer, or Wigglesworth. Spending time to study word by word, line by line, concept by concept until you have absorbed it. Savor the time spent with the material, take notes, meditate on it, memorize passages that have special meaning. Let it permeate your being and it will transform you.

I always recommend doing something for others. Whether it is for someone cl0se to you or a stranger. By serving others you not only make a milestone for yourself but also for the other person. This may or may not require you to get outside your comfort zone. There doesn’t need to be a financial cost. Most times it is just our time that we can give to help another person. I like to say that we are “blessed to be a blessing.” It doesn’t take much to look around and see the needs of others. The key is this only happens when we aren’t focused on ourselves.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For every thing there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Every season will end. Life moves forward whether we want it to or not. Life is change. Whether for better or worse is often how we interpret it, either optimisticly or pessimisticly. If life gives you lemons make lemonade, otherwise the sour look on your face has no up side. Trust God to be faithful. He is in control even when we feel like life is out of control.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” E.M. Bounds says, “Trust is faith that has become absolute, approved, and accomplished.” So I encourage you to keep the faith, and make the most of this season in your life. Know that you are not alone and not forgotten. I’m praying for you.

Your Brother in Christ

January 2019 Letter

(Excerpt from a letter)

Greetings Brother,

Psalms 51 has always been my favorite prayer of King David.  It is the most honest prayer of repentance that I have ever heard.  It is the model by which we should craft our own prayers asking for God’s forgiveness.  According to Old Testament law adulterers were to be stoned.  Murder to cover up the adultery also would have been a crime with a death penalty.  Now no one in Israel would have ever seriously considered stoning the king.  But being above the law of man is not the same as being above the law of God.  When the prophet Nathan confronted David as recorded in 2 Samuel 11-12 David showed why God had made him king in the first place.  Unlike Saul who blamed others for his personal failings David accepted responsibility for his actions and immediately repented.  In the era of the #METOO movement not one of the celebrities or politicians that has been accused has admitted responsibility in any way let alone given more than a token apology.

C.S. Lewis in “On Forgiveness” from The Weight of Glory says: “Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meaness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.  That an only that is forgiveness, and that we can always have from God if we ask for it.”

There are three parts to this statement.  First is the internal perspective in which you as the perpetrator must come to terms with your own actions and rather than excusing or discounting them accept them as wrong and commit to making the necessary changes to move forward.  The second is the eternal perspective in which you as the person who has committed the offense must see it as it really is and seek reconciliation with God through repentance.  Many people fail at this step.  It is one thing to admit a personal failing to yourself.  It is another thing entirely to kneel before God and make a solemn plea for forgiveness.  The third part is the external perspective in which you must extend the same forgiveness to others as you seek for yourself with God. This step is not even possible without God’s grace.

In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12 Jesus instructs the disciples to pray “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  If you can’t forgive others for the hurt they have inflicted on you how can you expect God to forgive you for what you’ve done?  This is what separates Christians from other people.  Forgiveness is the cornerstone to reconciliation.  Without reconciliation there can be no relationship between two people separated by the gulf of hurt, shame, anger, and retribution.  Reconciliation is a foreign concept in todays legal system and the reason why it has failed.  Most 12-Step programs have a step in which you need to seek forgiveness from those you’ve wronged (if possible).  But they also go on to say that even if the other person won’t forgive you that’s their choice.  You must move forward in your life.  If the other person choses not to forgive then they are choosing to live in the past and continue to give someone else power over them.  Forgiveness breaks the bonds that are holding a person back from healing and moving forward.

Psalms 51:10-13 says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit in me.  Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit away from me.  Restore unto me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.”  My prayer for you is that you would have a spirit willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto the joy that only a relationship with God can provide.

Your Brother in Christ