Day 213: Inside The Prison Walls: You Are Not Alone
Read: Genesis 2:15 - 25, Matthew 11:25 - 28
We have placed ourselves in the moment. The moment when there is no turning back from the road God has prepared for us to travel. The gates of the Prison swing open. We walk through somewhat confident in our steps. For the uninitiated like myself, and perhaps all rookies to the call, somewhat confident is as far as we are willing to take it. If I was the only one seeking to pass through these gates right now
into the great unknown before me, I am pretty sure my heart would be
trying to race me straight out the door I just came through. And I
meditate on that now a week after the fact. I was not alone. I had a
team of men walking beside me every step of the way. No! We were never alone inside!
No
we were never alone. We had each other, we had the Correctional
Officers, we had the Chaplain and in a matter of hours we would have the
residents of the facility. Today's word for us to consider I suppose
then would be relationship. Being inside a relationship is foundational
to who we are as human beings created by God. Turning to the Genesis
story, I read verse 18: 'Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the
man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Right from
the beginning
of it all, God looked at the man standing all alone
in the garden, scratched His divine head saying 'there is nothing right
about man trying to make a go at life on his own.' 'That was NEVER in my original plan!'
Right from
the beginning, we were all created to be in relationship with God first
and with each other second. That was God's original plan when He spoke
creation into its existence. The whole plan from beginning to end would be about being in relationship with God. Day one in relationship with day two. Day 3 with days 1 and 2
and so on. I pray you get the idea the Lord is trying to help me
communicate with you. It sounds very complicated. God realized too that
creation itself needed a steward to care for it so He created man in His
own image, In His own Image He created them. All created things - you,
me, the employees of the Prison, the residents of the facility, all made to be in relationship with God.
This theme 'You are not alone' is carried all through the
entire breadth of Scripture. In the very loneliest of places, our homes,
our jobs, on the road, locked behind a cell door behind high Prison
walls, behind heavy steel gates and doors ringed by miles of razor
wire, we are never alone with anyone except ourselves if that is the
choice we make. God is always somewhere waiting to be encountered. At any given time, at any given Kairos moment, He could be walking through the Prison yard or
sitting across from you at your dining room table while your best
efforts at relationship are with the thumbs you are working so hard at twiddling right now. Look for an encounter with the Living God today!
Let Us Pray: Loving God, there are times in each persons life when there is no one. No one with whom to share a word, a laugh, a sad remembrance, a gentle
touch, a fond embrace, a kiss of love. Please, ABBA, Father, bless each
one who suffers from such loneliness. Enrich their life with a friend or
gentle stranger who will spend one Kairos moment noticing and loving
like You do. In those times, as You let Your love shine through, the
world as we know it is reborn, recreated into Your Image, into Your
Image it is recreated and made new and their friendship with Christ is
known. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, worlds without end! So be it! Yes, So Be It - In Jesus' name. Amen
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Read: Genesis 2:15 - 25, Matthew 11:25 - 28
We have placed ourselves in the moment. The moment when there is no turning back from the road God has prepared for us to travel. The gates of the Prison swing open. We walk through somewhat confident in our steps. For the uninitiated like myself, and perhaps all rookies to the call, somewhat confident is as far as we are willing to take it. If I was the only one seeking to pass through these gates right now into the great unknown before me, I am pretty sure my heart would be trying to race me straight out the door I just came through. And I meditate on that now a week after the fact. I was not alone. I had a team of men walking beside me every step of the way. No! We were never alone inside!
No we were never alone. We had each other, we had the Correctional Officers, we had the Chaplain and in a matter of hours we would have the residents of the facility. Today's word for us to consider I suppose then would be relationship. Being inside a relationship is foundational to who we are as human beings created by God. Turning to the Genesis story, I read verse 18: 'Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Right from the beginning
of it all, God looked at the man standing all alone in the garden, scratched His divine head saying 'there is nothing right about man trying to make a go at life on his own.' 'That was NEVER in my original plan!'
Right from the beginning, we were all created to be in relationship with God first and with each other second. That was God's original plan when He spoke creation into its existence. The whole plan from beginning to end would be about being in relationship with God. Day one in relationship with day two. Day 3 with days 1 and 2 and so on. I pray you get the idea the Lord is trying to help me communicate with you. It sounds very complicated. God realized too that creation itself needed a steward to care for it so He created man in His own image, In His own Image He created them. All created things - you, me, the employees of the Prison, the residents of the facility, all made to be in relationship with God.
This theme 'You are not alone' is carried all through the entire breadth of Scripture. In the very loneliest of places, our homes, our jobs, on the road, locked behind a cell door behind high Prison walls, behind heavy steel gates and doors ringed by miles of razor wire, we are never alone with anyone except ourselves if that is the choice we make. God is always somewhere waiting to be encountered. At any given time, at any given Kairos moment, He could be walking through the Prison yard or sitting across from you at your dining room table while your best efforts at relationship are with the thumbs you are working so hard at twiddling right now. Look for an encounter with the Living God today!
Let Us Pray: Loving God, there are times in each persons life when there is no one. No one with whom to share a word, a laugh, a sad remembrance, a gentle touch, a fond embrace, a kiss of love. Please, ABBA, Father, bless each one who suffers from such loneliness. Enrich their life with a friend or gentle stranger who will spend one Kairos moment noticing and loving like You do. In those times, as You let Your love shine through, the world as we know it is reborn, recreated into Your Image, into Your Image it is recreated and made new and their friendship with Christ is known. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, worlds without end! So be it! Yes, So Be It - In Jesus' name. Amen
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