Mountain Climbing in Jail

It took me some years of working in the jail, to see a pattern.  Inmate after inmate would go through the same moments of closeness with God followed by severe struggles to stay faithful to God.  They would start filled with joy and enthusiasm, then pass through moments of darkness, adversity and temptation.  Only after that, if they stayed faithful, would they come into a greater and stronger peace.  Because I found the pattern very common in the lives of the inmates I knew best, I tried to spell out clearly to myself the pattern that I saw taking place.  As I would talk to an inmate and he would discuss his struggles, I often could tell him that many other inmates had gone through the same moments.  If he did not give up, I could tell him pretty confidently, that things would get better.  Eventually,  I decided to write this book to help any inmate who wants to stay close to God.   Knowing some of the signs along a highway can help us to get to our destinations, and knowing this pattern might just help some inmates reach that best of all destinations, a life filled with the love and service of God.

            But that’s not the only reason for this book.  Another reason has to do with how my friends and I have seen the Holy Spirit work in the lives of many inmates.  I want to tell the story of some of these inmates because they have inspired me.   Many of them asked God to help them to change.  And God helped them.  Maybe the change wasn’t permanent; maybe it didn’t last past the walk to freedom through the open doors of the jail.  But for a while they came to know the goodness of God and were incredibly blessed by God.   Their stories, told to me and my friends in detention ministry, keep me working in the jails, and I hope these same stories will inspire other inmates to stay faithful to God.  Maybe they will also inspire some people on the outside to take up this tremendous work of the Gospel which is detention ministry.   

            The last reason that I write this book is to stress a point that I never realized until I began to work with inmates: Jesus spent his last night as a mortal human being in jail.  He died an inmate condemned to death after spending time locked up.  I firmly believe that he did that to bless all those who had ever been locked away and all those who would be locked away in the future. I think He did this to say to all inmates who are locked up: “I am your Brother, and I am at your side.  I too was in jail, and I am right here with you now. Never give up hope!”