"To give unto them beauty for ashes..."
Isaiah 61:3
It was good seeing families together; fathers with their children, husbands with their wives, and parents spending the day with their sons...
Isaiah 61:3
It was good seeing families together; fathers with their children, husbands with their wives, and parents spending the day with their sons...
This was our Christian Family Day event. We have it every year and always on the first Saturday in August.
As usual, we had a good turn out. Some of our volunteer ministers showed up as well. It was a time of prayer and praise, fun, and fellowship for everyone. We were free to mingle, and we did.
But it was also a time for hidden pain and open sorrow. Seeing the faces of family members who came to spend the day with a loved one, I saw tears as well as smiles. There was the awareness that the event was only for a day and then will come sad goodbyes and hugs of desperation. Such is the life for the incarcerated and for those whose hearts are knit to them.
The time passed quickly. At 2:30 it was time for our guests and loved ones to go. Officers escorted them to the exit doors, and just like that our loved ones were gone. Now it will be a whole year before we could do this again.
What I saw today was the Lord giving us beauty for ashes. Families torn apart by a loved one in prison were reunited. Yet there was the awareness of wasted years and ruined hopes and dreams. Happiness and sadness become intertwined, and life goes on.
D. B.
As usual, we had a good turn out. Some of our volunteer ministers showed up as well. It was a time of prayer and praise, fun, and fellowship for everyone. We were free to mingle, and we did.
But it was also a time for hidden pain and open sorrow. Seeing the faces of family members who came to spend the day with a loved one, I saw tears as well as smiles. There was the awareness that the event was only for a day and then will come sad goodbyes and hugs of desperation. Such is the life for the incarcerated and for those whose hearts are knit to them.
The time passed quickly. At 2:30 it was time for our guests and loved ones to go. Officers escorted them to the exit doors, and just like that our loved ones were gone. Now it will be a whole year before we could do this again.
What I saw today was the Lord giving us beauty for ashes. Families torn apart by a loved one in prison were reunited. Yet there was the awareness of wasted years and ruined hopes and dreams. Happiness and sadness become intertwined, and life goes on.
D. B.
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