Prison bound

Today, I go to prison.

Now, there are some people who believe I should have been there for quite some time, but I go with the absolute belief that I will indeed return at some point.

I go because ...

I believe God is still in the habit of using persons to meet the needs of other persons, that God softens the hearts of those he wants to soften the heart of and that wonderful things happen when those two incidents co-mingle.

I go because ...

I believe the Holy Spirit still is in the heart-warming business. Now whether it is one Dominic Brown, whom I am sponsoring and actively praying for this morning before I go into the prison or someone else, maybe even mine own, a heart will be warmed.

I go because...

There but for the grace of God go I.

Though Kairos ministry's mantra is "listen, listen, love, love" and I plan to do this as well as I possibly can, I also believe as the Psalmist wrote, "I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High."

God has blessed me, my family, my dogs, my cats. I often am negligent about praising Him, though, falling into the trap of comparisons. You know, what my life is versus what it was or what I have versus what the Joneses have.

But the bottom line is we have been remarkably blessed. From the moment I found sobriety in a drunken world, and accepted my Jesus as the Christ and as my Lord, I began a downward spiral out of journalism, demoting myself twice, always looking for how to serve Him better and more often.

I did not do that so that He would bless me more. Do not mistake that. He blessed me more because He so chose to do so. There have been difficult times along the way, deaths that I would not have had happen if I could prevent them and I still make horrific financial choices and apparently will till we're homeless vagabonds wondering where all the money went.

But none of that is a measure of my praise. I praise because I love and I loved, the Bible says, because He, HE, first love me. He started it, like I used to say when my cousin and I would get into stuff together.

All that leads to this: I'm going to prison not out of gratitude, despite the fact I am deeply, deeply full of gratitude that He reached down with a loving hand and saved me, literally saved me. I'm going to prison so that someone else can be reached. Plain. Simple.

Lord, have mercy on me.
Lord, have mercy on Dominic.
Lord, have mercy on the unnamed soul that you have called.

Let's get 'er done.