During our time in Thailand, we had the opportunity to work with, minister to, and enjoy the company of four ministry staff who were previously prisoners. They were all imprisoned for different reasons, and were sentenced for different lengths of time. But during their time served behind bars, God brought them out of darkness into light and they surrendered their lives to Christ.Their story is a beautiful story of God’s grace and unconditional love. Theirs is a story of true transformation. Theirs is a story of complete redemption.?
*For reasons of protection and respect, their actual names will not be used.
**Pi (a term used out of respect for those older than you)…
Pi MK – A man full of joy, reaching out to others with a ministry vision to help others coming out of prison who seek a better life and have a desire to live for the Lord.
Pi K – A young man, transformed from an angry violent youth into a loving man with a heart to worship and serve the Lord in all he does. A young man who is tender in spirit and has a true servant’s heart.
Pi S – A woman who was a former drug dealer who had it all – material possessions – who now has nothing according to the world, but has gained everything in Christ who has redeemed her and filled her wholly with the peace that only God can give. A woman who’s mere presence is anointed with strength, peace, and joy. She is a sweet gentle spirit that is strongly felt just being around her.
Pi M – A man whose former path in life was living as an assassin, who spent over 10 years in prison, and who walked out of prison into a new life with Christ. A man who is now nothing but gentle and sweet, seeking and yearning to live a life worthy of the calling he has received by God.?
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Truth #1: You don’t need language to connect with the heart of someone.
Truth #2: Loving someone when they least deserve it is when they need it the most, and is a catalyst for true transformation.
Truth #3: God is bigger than any sin you’ve committed.
Truth #4: Those that God has called, those that God has redeemed, nothing can separate them from the love of God.
Truth #5:?You are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come; true transformation.?
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??Pi M’s body is covered in tattoos, most of which were done while he was in prison – a physical pain to distract him from the mental/emotion pain inside his head and heart. Typically in Thailand, those that are marked with tattoos are members of gangs or ex-prisoners; tattoos are viewed in a negative light.
My teammate Kyle and I were interested in getting tattoos while in Thailand, and this is where the story begins...
We were speaking with Pi M, asking him about his tattoos. He saw the tattoo on my neck, AGAPE, and showed me where he had the same tattoo inked on his thumb. And as we were conversing he told us that he knew how to do tattoos, and that he did many while in prison. He told us that they were bad, and He wished that he could erase them from his body. We told him that in America, tattoos are seen differently, accepted as beautiful art, an expression of one’s self, in most circles.
Living as a marked man, Pi M is not always treated well. He is seen and treated as less than, because of his tattoos, and even more so because of his criminal/prison past. His own uncle, a Catholic priest, won’t have anything to do with him. Living a new life for Christ in the ‘outside’ world has been difficult for Pi M. Living with a past is hard in the real world…but the good news is, in Christ we are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. While the world would condemn Pi M, the Lord convicts, saves, and redeems. Once Christ frees you, the world, Satan, can no longer bind you in chains, their voice has no lasting power over your life.?
Pi M really is a new creation. I loved being in his presence during our three weeks in Ratchaburi. He is such a gentle man, full of a quiet joy and wisdom that exudes from his very spirit. In all our interactions, he was very respectful and sweet. I am honored to have my body marked in ink by my brother Pi M, and to share in his story of God’s beautiful saving grace and redemption.?
The night he finished my tattoo, we asked him to play a song he had written on the guitar. So he sang it to us, and it was like a beautiful lullaby. The song that he shared close to his heart is called, “Freedom in God”.?
Today, Pi M is a free man, literally and figuratively. He stands truly transformed under God’s miraculous hand. When I look at Pi M, I don’t see an ex-assassin, I see a man of God, a disciple of Christ. A brother, a friend.?
OUR GOD REDEEMS. He meets you where you’re at and loves you completely, but He doesn’t leave you there. He picks you up in His mighty arms and brings you forth out of deep waters, holding you up in His righteous right hand. He calls out the greatness in every one of us, and guides us in His perfect design for us.?
Pi M’s story is a beautiful story of redemption, and I am blessed to have had him share his story with our team. I am so grateful that God placed us in his life so shortly after being released from prison – that we could be shining lights of God’s unconditional love and grace in his life.?
God loves YOU, just are you are. His love, His grace, will transform your life if you let Him.?
*** And yes, getting a tattoo on my ankle/heel in the traditional style really hurt. But it was worth the time spent with Pi M, and the story from it that I will carry forever.?
The story behind my fox tattoo. An excerpt from the book,
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Then he went on with his reflections: ?I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees? and one of them perhaps extinct forever… that doesn?t make me a very great prince…? And he lay down in the grass and cried. It was then that the fox appeared. ?Good morning,? said the fox. ?Good morning,? the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing. ?I am right here,? the voice said, ?under the apple tree.? ? Who are you?? asked the little prince, and added, ?You are very pretty to look at.? ?I am a fox,? said the fox. ?Come and play with me,? proposed the little prince. ?I am so unhappy.? ?I cannot play with you,? the fox said. ?I am not tamed.? ?Ah! Please excuse me,? said the little prince. But, after some thought, he added: ?What does that mean, ?tame??? ?You do not live here,? said the fox. ?What is it that you are looking for?? ?I am looking for men,? said the little prince. ?What does that mean, ?tame??? ?Men,? said the fox. ?They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?? ?No,? said the little prince. ?I am looking for friends. What does that mean, ?tame??? ?It is an act too often neglected,? said the fox. It means to establish ties.?
??To establish ties??? ?Just that,? said the fox. ?To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…? ?I am beginning to understand,? said the little prince. ?There is a flower… I think that she has tamed me…? ?It is possible,? said the fox. ?On the Earth one sees all sorts of things.? ?Oh, but this is not on the Earth!? said the little prince. The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious. ?On another planet?? ?Yes.? ?Are there hunters on this planet?? ?No.? ?Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?? ?No.? ?Nothing is perfect,? sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea. ?My life is very monotonous,? the fox said. ?I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…? The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. ?Please, tame me!? he said. ?I want to, very much,? the little prince replied. ?But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand.? ?One only understands the things that one tames,? said the fox. ?Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready-made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me…? ?What must I do, to tame you?? asked the little prince. ?You must be very patient,? replied the fox. ?First you will sit down at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day…?
The next day the little prince came back. ?It would have been better to come back at the same hour,? said the fox. ?If, for example, you come at four o?clock in the afternoon, then at three o?clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o?clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you… One must observe the proper rites…? ?What is a rite?? asked the little prince. ?Those also are actions too often neglected,? said the fox. ?They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all.? So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near… ?Ah,? said the fox, ?I shall cry.? ?It is your own fault,? said the little prince. ?I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…? ?Yes, that is so,? said the fox. ?But now you are going to cry!? said the little prince. ?Yes, that is so,? said the fox. ?Then it has done you no good at all!? ?It has done me good,? said the fox, ?because of the colour of the wheat fields.? And then he added: ?Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret.? The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. ?You are not at all like my rose,? he said. ?As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world.? And the roses were very much embarrassed. ?You are beautiful, but you are empty,? he went on. ?One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passer-by would think that my rose looked just like you, the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose. And he went back to meet the fox. ?Goodbye,? he said. ?Goodbye,? said the fox. ?And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.???(That’s why my fox doesn’t have any eyes, he sees with the heart.)
?What is essential is invisible to the eye,? the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. ?It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.? ?It is the time I have wasted for my rose…? said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember. ?Men have forgotten this truth,? said the fox. ?But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose…? ?I am responsible for my rose,? the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
**(God gives us relationships in this life, and it is our responsibility to honor those connections, love each other well, no matter if they are only in our life for a season or a lifetime. When you are vulnerable with someone, and they you, they tame you, and you them.)
