No milk, you learn something new every day, a good question, good timing and the mystery of suffering
The afternoon did not get off to a good start on Wednesday as I arrived in the Prison Chapel, knowing that I was holding the fort, finding that the milk had gone off and I still could not get on to the computer.
I admit to thinking that it was going to be one of those days you would put down to experience and be best forgotten but God had different ideas. I managed to see all the new prisoners fairly swiftly, visited the segregation unit where the participants in a recent fight proudly showed me their injuries and I called into health care to chat to the nurses.
This left me free to do some visitng. First on my list was Martin where I received a lesson in how to keep milk in a carton fresh without a fridge. All I'm saying is that it involved taking threads from a towel, stuffing loo roll in a plug hole and cold water! We went back to the chapel for a chat and a prayer. Martin is full of questions about God, who he believes is real but at the moment he can't get his head around Jesus being more than a man. But the problem with Martin is he always asks the real question on his mind just as you are locking him back up. "There's just one more thing miss, What does God want us to do with our lives?" Now there's a good question, which I had all of two minutes to answer but what a fantastic opportunity.
My next port of call was to a lad who regularly self harms but who has been trying really hard not to. Today God's timing was perfect, as I walked into his cell seconds before he was about to give into tempation. We went for a black coffee and a really good talk. I wanted to hug him but it's not allowed.
And finally patiently waiting for me to call was a lad who the day before had recieved the news that his 24 year old brother had died in hospital. We talked and prayed together but I'm not sure the reality of what has happened has really sunk in. And when it does the sense of what has happened may take even longer to work out.
All I know is when a Prison Officer said to me the other day he didn't know why I bothered coming into such a godless place he was wrong. It is far from godless. In fact sometimes I see his power and presence at work more there than in many a meeting held in his name.
The afternoon did not get off to a good start on Wednesday as I arrived in the Prison Chapel, knowing that I was holding the fort, finding that the milk had gone off and I still could not get on to the computer.
I admit to thinking that it was going to be one of those days you would put down to experience and be best forgotten but God had different ideas. I managed to see all the new prisoners fairly swiftly, visited the segregation unit where the participants in a recent fight proudly showed me their injuries and I called into health care to chat to the nurses.
This left me free to do some visitng. First on my list was Martin where I received a lesson in how to keep milk in a carton fresh without a fridge. All I'm saying is that it involved taking threads from a towel, stuffing loo roll in a plug hole and cold water! We went back to the chapel for a chat and a prayer. Martin is full of questions about God, who he believes is real but at the moment he can't get his head around Jesus being more than a man. But the problem with Martin is he always asks the real question on his mind just as you are locking him back up. "There's just one more thing miss, What does God want us to do with our lives?" Now there's a good question, which I had all of two minutes to answer but what a fantastic opportunity.
My next port of call was to a lad who regularly self harms but who has been trying really hard not to. Today God's timing was perfect, as I walked into his cell seconds before he was about to give into tempation. We went for a black coffee and a really good talk. I wanted to hug him but it's not allowed.
And finally patiently waiting for me to call was a lad who the day before had recieved the news that his 24 year old brother had died in hospital. We talked and prayed together but I'm not sure the reality of what has happened has really sunk in. And when it does the sense of what has happened may take even longer to work out.
All I know is when a Prison Officer said to me the other day he didn't know why I bothered coming into such a godless place he was wrong. It is far from godless. In fact sometimes I see his power and presence at work more there than in many a meeting held in his name.
posted by Rehoboth at
9:21 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for sharing that Carol.
We of course know what the prison guard didn't, in that there is nowhere that God isn't. In my experience you tend to find Him most in the places where others fear to tread because that is where He is needed most!
By
Graeme Smith, at 11:31 PM
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