“George” is another one of my friends from the city jail. He is from the original cell that I started ministering to and in the group of guys that really began to change my heart. George has taken over as the worship leader in the past couple of months after his baptism and has been slowly stepping up into more leadership roles. The last time I was there, he was initiating the worship time, even though our group wasn’t to his cell yet. He wanted the guys to start worshipping with or without us. Despite these changes, there was still something deeper there.
Every time I just came to visit informally, George would stay behind his curtain in his bed. Of course, he would always stop me and ask me how I was doing, but he very rarely got involved with the social/fellowship times. Every now and then, he would pull me aside very secretly and ask me for a few personal items. He was almost ashamed and didn’t want me to say anything too loud. This was always interesting to me because all the guys begged at one time because they literally had nothing and no way of getting anything. Still, I helped George with his basic necessities and tried to do it as quietly as I could.
Just today, I got a letter that revealed a lot to me. After a few years, the hearing for his case finally came up. George’s family had become less and less interested in him over the years, but this put the nail in his coffin. As the verdict was rendered and George was sentenced to a lifetime in prison for his crime, there was another verdict rendered by his family: a lifetime of isolation. My heart broke as I read the letter. His transfer could come up any day now and he’ll be moved to a prison about six hours away. The unfortunate part is that I can’t even visit him right now. I want to see my friend, but I just can’t.
It’s hard for me to trust God in situations like this. But in saying that, it’s almost like I’m telling God that He needs me. That’s flat out laughable. Over the last year, George has been walked through a discipleship process and has even gone to the point of baptism and leading worship. Even though his crime was committed before this transformation, he still has to do his time. Despite the gift that we have been given with salvation, sometimes we have to wait for the afterlife for our pardon.
I guess when it gets down to it, I have to ask myself, “Does God really know what He’s doing?” As I look back on my life and the other times I’ve asked that question, I know there’s only one answer to that. Even though not everything has turned out to have a happy ending, it’s all worked itself out to make me who I am today. There are parts of me that wouldn’t be nearly as strong or faithful without those less than storybook endings. So, when it gets down to it, I have to say, that I trust God with George. Whether or not I ever see him again, I trust God with George…
