Friday, December 28, 2018
This morning, I woke earlier than usual, about 6:45 am, which was good because it was one of those “hurry up and wait” mornings. I had an appointment at 9 am to get my blood pressure checked. I had a very good time with the Lord, and read Romans 12 again, which I had preached on at River Oaks Church shortly before coming to prison. Someone posted it on YouTube, and it’s entitled “The Marks of a True Christian.” I’d wished I had my notes to review. It was an exceptional time in the Lord, which I interrupted for about 10 minutes to report to the kitchen at 8 am to find out what my job there was. H told me to come back at 7:30 am on Wednesday after the holiday. So I came back and finished my Bible reading and prayer time.
I could very really and truly feel God’s presence with me today, and as I grabbed the book I’m now reading, “Love Does” by Bob Goff, and hurried down to “medical,” I could still feel the presence of God. This lasted the whole hour and forty minutes I had to wait there, and even when I was standing in line at about 10:30 for my lunch, the Holy Spirit just enveloped me and I prayed over the hundreds of men before me eating their food. I was broken-hearted though because while in medical, I spoke briefly with the man I’d met at the Messianic service who lent me some books to read. He’d been waiting for hours to see the doctor. Apparently, he saw the doctor six months ago and was told he had operable cancer and an 85% chance of living, but it required it to be removed right away. Six months later they gave him his follow-up appointment! I told him I would pray for him. What was even more disturbing is that when we sat back down, the same vile language came from his mouth you hear from everyone else in this prison – from both guards and inmates. I don’t like to be judgmental, but I have a hard time reconciling the filth language coming from someone’s mouth who claims to be a Christian. I see men bow their heads in prayer all the time over their food, and the first thing out of their mouths is a flood of obscenities. But that kind of language is ubiquitous in prison.
Tonight I went to the Messianic service and gave the book back to the man I was just telling you about. While waiting for the “move” to go back to the units, some men were standing there talking about I know not what, and I heard vile language right there in the chapel, as well, in their conversation, and even the group leader was laughing at whatever they were talking about.
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