No… I did not get arrested. So no worries, you do not have to bail me out. 🙂
In my Thailand blog, I had mentioned that we did prison ministry so I thought I write a few things of my thoughts from being there:
- Walking into the prison we had to go through security checks and get patted down. Even having a simple cell phone, can have implications since some can continue their crimes in prison, like drug deals. However, as I had previously mentioned, once you get past the guards, the inside was not as the movies portray it. Perhaps it is because it is Thailand and there is an exotic feel to it, but I seem to think that perhaps the prisoners have chores and to make it as homey as possible, they try to make it more enjoyable to live. After all, no matter how you jazz it up, I would still find it confining to not be able to leave the prison walls.
- Of the ten divisions of the prison, one was for women and the other nine were for men. Spending time with the women in prison was interesting for me. As I looked around, there was the occasional tough looking, tattoo’ed up woman, who I probably would not want to mess with, but there were some who were pretty and I would want to be friends with. Some of the girls were probably younger than me and were very friendly. As I pondered, I realized, I’m not much different from them. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Their mistakes just happen to have consequences that put them in prison. My mistakes have caused a lot of pain and hurt to people and have grieved God. James 2:10 states, “for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Though I do not know all their back-stories, God has forgiven them just as He has forgiven me.
- One of our contacts that we lived and worked with had actually spent time in the prison we had visited. You would have never known if you met him now; he is one of the sweetest and kindest men I’ve ever met. He became a Christian during his time in prison. One of the most interesting things that he mentioned (though we unfortunately had a very big language barrier) was that it took going to prison for him to know God. Some of the other men and women from the prison would agree that in some way, they were glad that even though it was a drastic measure, they were where they needed to be to receive the grace of God. During our visit, it was the first time our contact was allowed back to go inside the prison. He continues to be an inspiration to those who are still in there and to me.
- One of the most obvious things about the prison was the lack of freedom. You really could not go or even see beyond the high walls that surrounded the prison complex. What was not as obvious to see were that there were men and women in there who were more free than people that have never been to prison. Spending time with them, you knew that though they lived within the physical walls of the prison, the lived in spiritual freedom. Beth Moore has a good quote stating, “anything that hinders us from knowing God is bondage”. I have met many people, even Christians, who do not live in the freedom that Jesus had paid such a high price for. It was just encouraging seeing the transformed lives some of these men and women had and their gratitude and love for God and for each other.
Well, I figure it’s time to write a blog that went with my mind processing. I hope you enjoyed it. Being in prison has broken my expectations and I hope this has given you a different perspective for prison in general and those who are/have gone to prison as well.
Thoughts to consider:
- Are you living in freedom or captivity? Are there any parts of your life that holds shame or guilt?
- Are you positioned where you can receive God/receive more of what God wants to give you?
- Do we judge or compare others to ourselves? (i.e. “oh, I’m not as bad as that person who did xyz…”)
