My Friend

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine... it is not so much a story as it is quotes from him and dialogue about his life. He is an encouragement to me because God has really changed him and with every letter I get from him I am more convinced of this. Briefly, his story is kind of like this: he was on the streets for a while and had done some time in jail and then got out of jail and was back on the streets and that was when I met him about 7 months ago. He was real tough and had a big chip on his shoulder to just about everyone. Me and my roommates started spending some time with him and getting to know him and his story. He lived with a prostitute for 10 years and had been into drugs and alcohol and was just dissatisfied with life. He was very hungry for God and we talked a lot about it and went to church together whenever we could. Well, one day he decided to turn himself in even though he had found a job and a place to stay he felt like that was what he needed to do to be obedient to God since he had money he owed for probation. So, he went to jail about 5 months ago. I got to go visit him a feew times before I left for the summer and even though he had some encouraging things to say about God sometimes I felt like overall he still wasn't getting it and was getting way too caught up in me and my roommates. The letters I got from him at first were kind of disturbing and inappropriate. We kept writing all summer and he went to the state prison about a month ago. It was maybe the best thing that ever happened to him. Since he has been in prison and unable to have visitors and has had regular chapel services God has really transformed him. I got a letter from him today and we wrote this: "Bless you prison, for having been in my life, for it is here that I have learned that the meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul. Bless you prison, for it is here that I learned to see justice in the way that Amos and Micah and Jeremiah and Isaiah saw it." He also quoted Joseph somebody and wrote this: "I need courage not just because I may fall on my face or worse but others seeing me a sorry spectacle if it should happen will say ' he didn't know what he was doing' or, 'he's foolhardy.' When it comes right down to it Lord, I choose to be your failure before anyone else's success. Keep me from reneging on my choice."
My friend has also been quoting whole chapters from the Bible that he's been reading and what God is speaking to Him. It is just real exciting to see where God has brought him and the ways that God loves and redeems life even when it may seem unredeemable. That is why I want to abolish the death penalty.... but that is another soapbox. =o)