Behind the Walls Lies Freedom

Today the men finished up Kairos #3 Prison Ministry event at Nash Correctional.  As always, we find the ending to a Kairos weekend joyous, overwhelming and leaving us invigoratingly exhausted.  Yes, that's an oxymoron at the surface but is a most apt description when you understand, or better yet, personally experience, the fact that when you truly seek God's will in your life He can give you a strength and joy beyond anything else you will ever do, no matter how much time or effort is or is not put into it.   Reach out - here's a sample - taste and see what I mean.

At the beginning of the event, the volunteers, who have completed 4-6 full days of training and preparation before going in, meet at a local church to finalize preparations and review Rule and Regulations of the Institution.  Every word, action, movement, even down to a cough or laugh or needing to take a bathroom break is all critiqued by the officers and residents of the Institution.  Then going through security, sometimes being questioned about the shoes or eyeglasses you are wearing, passing through scanners, lining up behind an armed guard, being escorted through multiple gates, fences and doors - think this creates a bit of stress on the volunteer?  Oh, yes.

Then you meet the residents - men of every age, race, background imaginable.  And they are watching and listening to you.  Pressure?  Oh, yes.   Then you take your turn at speaking, leading chapel, praying, interacting with the men at your table, trying desperately to listen, really, truly listen with all of your heart and mind, to what they are sharing with you.  Much of what they share is highly emotional, deeper wounds than any physical surgery imaginable.  Some of it is almost - or truly - horrifying.  But you need to not only listen with your ears and heart but truly, honestly listen with the love that Christ has for these men (and all of us).  Exhausting?  Yes again.

You get home about 9pm but needing to "unwind" from the intensity.  The next morning you rise about 5am, drive to the facility and repeat.  Then the next day and the final day. 

So why go through all of this?  Because when God has called you to be His instrument, He is your source of strength.  HE is your source of love for these men.  He is your Creator who pours out His grace and mercy to you as well as to the men searching for this truth.


Nash #3 was no different from other Kairos events in those general ways.  And yet, like all of God's creations, it had its own beauty, it was its own unique masterpiece of showing God's love.  Comments from the participants ranged from simply, "This has been an encouraging time to me that will help me in my walk with Christ for years to come" to "Tonight I will pray to let Christ rule my life.  My family and former colleagues (fellow residents practicing a pagan religion) will be very upset with me and may give me a hard time, but I will put my trust in Christ."  One man shared privately earlier in the weekend that within the same walls as him was a man who had once assaulted and came very close to killing him in another institution.  Both men are now totally changed - forgiven and forgiver - brothers in Christ.  If these men can truly forgive and love each other through the Holy Spirit's help and in obedience to Christ's commands to forgive, what pettiness is it that I think I need to hold on to?!  If a man who has been feared dreadfully in almost a dozen different institutions can now look at you and tell you that through Christ he truly loves all of mankind, who is beyond me loving?!  Yes, by the end of the weekend, you are physically, mentally and spiritually exhausted.  You are challenged and stretched to realize how very petty and self-centered you can be.  But, oh, how wonderfully invigorated to know that you allowed yourself, even as poor and weak as you are, to be a part of a great work by a Great Redeeming God!