Tuesday, April 5th, 2022
When he was 19 years old, he went to a large party in an affluent neighborhood. Alcohol and drugs abounded. He became high as a kite as did many others there. That night one act on his part changed his life for the next 15 years – prosecution, prison, probation, break probation, back behind bars, released on probation again, break probation again, and back into jail where he’s awaiting a release into treatment or a sentence to go back to prison. I met with him yesterday for the fourth time.
God does act in strange and mysterious ways. He was booked into the jail where I’m a volunteer chaplain in November of 2021. I didn’t meet with him then, but Ricco did. Ricco is an inmate in the jail and my spiritual partner and newfound friend who is like a chaplain himself in his unit and throughout the jail. Last December, this 34-year-old-man accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord, and 2 Corinthians 5:17 came true in his life. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Finally, he had caught a break. In December of 2021 he accepted Jesus as his Savior and his Lord. The first 34 years of his life were wiped clean in an instant and his new life began. I meet with him now on a weekly basis as a chaplain to disciple him. What a blessing for me to witness what God has done with a sinner lost in addiction and crime and to be part of his entry into the body of Christ.
What does any of this have to do with you, my friends? Seek out those who are living life on their own without Christ, especially those whom no one else wants to have anything to do with. Befriend them. Tell them about Jesus. If they are already saved, stand alongside them and be a beacon of hope for them. You were put on this earth to serve Jesus Christ and be His instrument to bring His love and mercy to the lost. You may not be a chaplain, but the lost and hopeless are all around you. Find just one person you can minister to and be a light into his or her dark life. That is enough.