Dear Supporters of PiFO,
In last week’s email I mentioned that I was going down to Parchman Prison to do some work for Burl Cain, the new Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). Burl was appointed on May 21 this year. In January there was a riot throughout the MDOC system. Here is a link to an article about the riot.
Part of my work at Parchman was to interview some inmates to discern their ability to be a leader of men at the prison. In the prison community one of the questions you never ask is “Why are you here?” During one interview I asked the following question
“What don’t you want me to know about you?”
How would you answer that question? Especially to a stranger who also happened to be a judge? His answer was this, “I shot and killed my fiancée.” This was the reason why he was serving a life sentence at Parchman. He then went on to explain, to give more detail and to talk about the transformation of his heart.
So this is the question for all of us, “What don’t you want me to know about you?” Jesus knows the answer and only he can offer the forgiveness, the reconciliation and the restoration that is available through repentance.
Jesus has paid our debt in full.
As the summer semester winds down for our first cohort in the Corban extension at the Oregon State Correctional Institution (OSCI), please continue to pray for the students, the staff at Corban and the staff at OSCI.
As always, thank you for your prayerful and financial support.