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Not many in the crowd I hang around with live on the sunny side of the street. I deal with societies rejects. The rapists, the drug dealers, the child molesters, the murderers and all the others that are locked up and tucked away out of site behind prison bars.
Not one convict I know was following Godly principles when they committed the felonies that landed them behind bars Their philosophy was one of self indulgence. I’m gonna do whatever I need to do so I can enjoy life now. What they thought would bring them happiness only brought suffering and pain.
Our society says we exist for ourselves. Do whatever makes you happy. We search high and low through this world for the one thing or person that we think will bring us happiness. We try to dumb our unhappiness by turning to drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography and all the other short term pleasures in life. We change partners, have affairs, anything to make us feel better.
Like the prodigal son we want our inheritance now. Once the father gave him his money off he went to enjoy life with wine, women and song. He never thought of his father until his money ran out and he was left wallowing in the muddy pig pen of life. Many of the prisoners I talk to daily have had this same experience. Stuck in a prison cell, disappointed with life, left with nothing to call their own they return to Christ.
Steve was deserted by his mother and raised by his uncle Mike. Mike was a member of the Hells Angels and from a young age Steve was drinking, using drugs, and running wild with the Hells Angels. He never knew any other way of life. It was like living in a concentration camp, they had total control over me, he said. “Day in and day out we were either partying or beating the living daylights out some poor fool who happened to get in our way!”
Steve ended his brainwashing by the hells angels on a hot summer night in June. After drinking and doing drugs him and his brother stole a car and led police on a high speed chase. When they crashed the car, they pulled out their guns and began shooting at the police. They killed one officer and Steve’s brother was shot dead before he threw down his weapon and surrendered.
Steve has now spent most of his life in prison. He told me that when he was with the Hells Angels he did whatever he thought would make him happy. He said, he drank and took drugs to dumb his guilt feelings. I wasn’t a happy person until I came to prison and found Jesus Christ.
Steve now works as the Chaplin’s clerk in prison. He has turned his life around and has discovered that nothing on this earth satisfies our soul like a close relationship with Christ. Steve said. “I was that Prodigal Son who wallowed in the pig pen of life. I had no interest in knowing the Father. I had my money, women, and drinks. Life was one big party, and then everything collapsed. Look at me now, I’m happier in prison than I’ve ever been. I came to Christ with all my mud and pig filth and He took me in.”
I opened my Bible to Luke 15:20 and read the following passage to Steve: “So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Steve I said, This is only time in the Bible that God ran. God is so happy when someone who is lost returns to Him that He runs to welcome them back. Steve fought back a tear and said, “I know God’s love has no limits if he ran to welcome me into his kingdom.
Until our deepest desire is to know God we cannot and will not care about anything but ourselves and what will make us happy. When we truly find God we find rest in the arms of Jesus.
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