SMELLING A PHONYLate last week I had an overall health check up and finally got the “all clear” to start going back into the prisons! The saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder” is mostly used in regards to people. But I looked up this phrase and here is what I found: “When someone or something is a constant presence, it can be easy to take it for granted. Absence can make one realize just how much you value the opportunity to be with that person or in that place, and the positive impact they or it have had on your life.” It will be almost one year since I have been inside a prison, and in that time I have thought about just how much I value the opportunity to serve there, the wonderful relationships that have been made.The preparation each week for the group. The fellowship on the journey to the facilities and during the carpooling on the ride back. But I have also remembered a couple of things about my journey that apply to each of us. The first is to “be yourself.” During my first solo group many years ago, I spoke about “love.” As I nervously went through my list of scriptures and highlighted the key points in each, I thought to myself,”This is going great!” It was only later that I realized that I hadn’t stopped talking, I only looked at my notes and I didn't stop to ask questions or engage with anyone else. That took a total of about 15 of the 90 minutes we had together. YIKES! I stammered and sweated my way through the lengthy amount of time that was left, thinking “that was a total disaster” and to this very day there are several brothers who still tease me about it! They don’t want me to get “too big for my britches” is what they say. A rather large man named George, who obviously spent a great amount of time working out, came up to me afterwards and said, “You know we inmates have a way of smelling a phoney from a mile away but notice ain’t nobody sniffing around you. Just share what’s on your heart each time you’re here.” That was the point, right then and there that I knew that no matter what, I had to just be me. Each of us who go in to teach in different ways, we carry ourselves differently and relate to those inside differently. But as long as we remember why we are going in, and whose ministry this is, and that we are not there to be Billy Graham, we’ll be fine. There is a quote, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” And the second thing that has really been laid on my heart as I get ready to go back inside is to not take any opportunity that we have to go in for granted. The last time I was in, I certainly didn’t think it would be my last for almost a year. Life happens, we have good days and bad. But the opportunity to go where the Lord is asking us to go is a very special blessing. We hear so many people say, ”I wish I knew what it is the Lord wants me to do.” Well, we Yokefellows have had that question answered in our lives. The Lord wants us to, “Help inmates, returning citizens and at-risk youth yoke themselves to Christ for salvation and changed lives.” Thank you all for your faithful service and your dedication to YPM. I am truly honored to serve with each of you.
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