I just wanted to honor God for His working among us. I want to bless the name of Jesus for His love showing up where darkness is more familiar. I'm talking about the big house yo. (not the "big, big house with lots and lots of room. A big, big yard...") the slammer where I talked to this 15 year old kid. He had a reverence of God, his sketches prove that God has a Catholic place in his life. One sketch was the praying hands with a rosary, another i saw was a eye and inside of it was the crime scene he committed and he's still holding the gun and the caption reads "I'm sorry." Heavy stuff, He wanted to get out. That was his only prayer. I asked him how he prays and he started to recite the "our Father." My prayer for him is that he would come to know God through the Bible. -He lit up with a healthy pride when i asked him if he reads. Being there was the first time he ever read of his own will. So I suggested reading John. My testimony comforted him. He said he was going to get out and stay away from his past and gangs. I told him it could only work through Jesus being your light, guide and path. He said he would pray that Jesus would reveal himself more.
Then a Moody friend and I went to the solitary lockup area and prayed at the doors calling for the all-surpassing Holy Spirit of Christ occupy those rooms. It was sone as they slept. Solitary confinement: they got a bed in there, sheets and that's it.
The real challenge for me came next where we found out that the church service some of the other Moody people were putting on was running late so the last group scheduled won't be able to go to service. So they sent me and a soft-spoken, small, light-hearted, suburbanite, a godly Moody gal to have a talk with a dozen convicts. We just let the Lord do it, -Let it be clearly known that under usual circumstance I would be rambling like a southerner, heartbeat freaking and hard to figure out (like leading out in BSF).
God had a hold of us (antennas recieving) and the message was about prayer. lots of questions and answers. The kids took us down the weirdest and funniest of bunny trails. But we really got to the "why praying", and the to "who to" of praying, and if praying is really like talking to God what are ways we can listen. The calvary backup came about 15 minutes into it and broke up the big group for one on one time and we did another 15 minutes of that.
So I talked to two others, I noticed that no one sat to talk to them. And they were the most answer-ready among the group. The first guy had a pastor lineage and knew the Bible better than me. He's a 17 year old who wants to be in the NFL and write motivational books. His prayer request was for God's timing and justice amid the crime. And that he could better explain things to his family so they wouldn't be so judging.
The other is in the word every day. He gets out in like the next two weeks. He admitted that its easy in here. But out there "life catches up" to him. He said he's been prophesied about three times to become a pastor so he sees his time in jail as testimony building. I didn't think it was funny. I told him to find and ask and cling to someone that can disciple him like a pastor or someone who's faith he admired.
I just want to conclude with a huge request for prayer for the Chaplin of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. Many in the jail administration are opposed to this ministering and want to squeeze it out of the jail. So direct your prayers to this matter too. He's getting pressure without rest it seems. In my opinion he's a terrific fit, his heart is just bent by God this way.
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