I got a letter the other day from a man who is serving a long sentence in prison. He and I have been corresponding for 10 years or so and met when I served on one of the Kairos teams in Ware State Prison over in Waycross. Why we were drawn to each other, I am not sure, but we have enjoyed our conversations together in person and through the mail.
When I first met him, I knew next to nothing about his life, except that he was in prison. Little by little over the years his story has come out and why he is serving time in the penal system. He is a mild mannered man, with a near constant smile. He comes from a good background, and you wonder how he could be in his current situation, but he got caught up in some things while serving in the military and ended up with a long sentence to serve.
He became a Christian while in prison, before we met, and so I have known the changed man, not the one that got into trouble.
Through this man, I have gotten to know a little of what it is like to be locked up, and the dehumanizing aspect of prison life. Yet I have also seen the effect of God in a life that does not sit around in a bad situation with a "woe is me" attitude.
A lot of the time, when I talk to others in the same situation, there is a despair around this time of the year. Christmas is a time of family, and a lot of these men and women in prison have been abandoned by theirs. It is a hard time for them.
A line from his recent letter comes through to me this morning:
"I have always enjoyed Christmas, even while in here. God has given us His greatest gift and I can't help but to rejoice, rejoice, rejoice."
If he can, surely I can also.
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