If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
A young man came up to me earlier today and asked me a question. He said, "Dave, how do you handle doing such a lengthy prison sentence without having lost your mind?"
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
A young man came up to me earlier today and asked me a question. He said, "Dave, how do you handle doing such a lengthy prison sentence without having lost your mind?"
He knows, of course, that I have been incarcerated for more than thirty years. And, by the way, I've been asked this question many times before. But my answer is always the same. I told him that while doing "time" is difficult, I no longer see myself as serving a prison sentence. "Instead," I said, "As a Christian, I see myself as serving the Lord." I then added that this makes a "big difference."
"Doing time," I told him, "means that my life is not controlled by the circumstances I've been forced into." I explained that if the length of my incarceration always occupied my mind, it would mean living with despair and hopelessness. And, I said, "If I lived with the mindset of a 'Lifer (an inmate who's doing a life sentence),' I'd merely be grinding out the days until I eventually got released or died."
"But this is not how I see it," I told him. "Looking at my situation with the mind of Christ," I said, "I see myself as living on a mission field." I explained that I'm surrounded by souls who need to be introduced to Jesus, and this is what I live for.
These days my focus is on what God is doing in here, and on what He is doing in my own life as I continue to place my faith and hope in Him.
Actually, I see prison as a place for hope to thrive. For it is within the confines of correctional facilities where Jesus Christ can find men and women living in desperate straits. They're in dire need of His loving care.
To me, prison is also a place to mature, spiritually, as well as in other ways. This does not mean, however, that I want to remain here all my life or that I like prison; I don't like prison! In many respects, it's an awful place of misery and torment. Yet, I've chosen to look at life from a positive perspective.
Rather than languishing in despair, I am prospering, instead. But this is only because God is with me. He has allowed me to find a degree of favor with both the staff and inmates. Otherwise, if not for the Lord, I'd be a miserable man.
D.B.
"Doing time," I told him, "means that my life is not controlled by the circumstances I've been forced into." I explained that if the length of my incarceration always occupied my mind, it would mean living with despair and hopelessness. And, I said, "If I lived with the mindset of a 'Lifer (an inmate who's doing a life sentence),' I'd merely be grinding out the days until I eventually got released or died."
"But this is not how I see it," I told him. "Looking at my situation with the mind of Christ," I said, "I see myself as living on a mission field." I explained that I'm surrounded by souls who need to be introduced to Jesus, and this is what I live for.
These days my focus is on what God is doing in here, and on what He is doing in my own life as I continue to place my faith and hope in Him.
Actually, I see prison as a place for hope to thrive. For it is within the confines of correctional facilities where Jesus Christ can find men and women living in desperate straits. They're in dire need of His loving care.
To me, prison is also a place to mature, spiritually, as well as in other ways. This does not mean, however, that I want to remain here all my life or that I like prison; I don't like prison! In many respects, it's an awful place of misery and torment. Yet, I've chosen to look at life from a positive perspective.
Rather than languishing in despair, I am prospering, instead. But this is only because God is with me. He has allowed me to find a degree of favor with both the staff and inmates. Otherwise, if not for the Lord, I'd be a miserable man.
D.B.
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