I’ll give it to you straight. This has been my favorite month on the Race so far. The South Africa countryside has been a stark contrast to the crowded, cramped locations in Southeast Asia. The scenery has been picturesque like something out of a Lord of the Rings film. With towering mountains, countless trees, and large sprawling farms covered by the greenest grass, it’s hard not to want to stay longer than a month. To add the benefits of this month, our team was graced with the most incredible host that I have had the pleasure of knowing on the Race so far. It’s always a blessing to meet people along the way with a genuine servant’s heart.
Our team met with a local pastor in the area that setup the various ministry opportunities that we were to be involved in. Of them all, the one that I appreciated the most was our time spent serving at a youth correctional facility. Prison ministry was never a particular ministry that I was compelled to at anytime, but our visits felt especially rewarding to me. You see these weren’t hardened criminals we were visiting, but young men, none older than the age of 25. However, if there wasn’t a decision to make some changes in their lives that is exactly what they would become. Our hopes were to sow some seed that would send these men in the right direction, but hopefully also minister some measure of comfort in their present circumstances.
Aside from the personal ministry of spending time with the inmates, we were given the floor to share a sermon or a testimony to encourage them. What do you say to these guys? I don’t know that I can entirely relate to them. I didn’t struggle with the things that they have in the past or presently do. Many of them are drug users, whether glue sniffing or harder narcotics. Often the crimes committed were under the influence. And now in the prison, they likely have to choose a gang to protect themselves from rape or assault, which always comes at a cost. So again I ask, what can I say to these guys?
I knew I needed a message from the Lord. For only He can minister to them in their present situation. It wasn’t until the morning of that I begin to receive a message on forgiveness. They have likely hurt people in their life that need to be able to forgive them, but that was not direction I was to take. You see they’ve likely been hurt as well whether by friends, relatives or strangers. And anyone of those young men that may have committed their life to Christ have a divine obligation to forgiveness. But I didn’t stop there. I made it plan that this is only truly possible with God. At the close of my brief sermon, I felt a deep satisfaction that I had co-labored with the Lord and that the word that I had left them would bare eternal fruit.
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
