Greetings P.D. Prayer Warrior,
The World today thinks all we need to do to change hearts and move men and women behind bars to live successfully, is show them worldly means and methods of success. To just show them how their actions have affected those they have vilolated. After watching so many years of these Woridly efforts, I'm convensed without a doubt, the only real answer is found through the Lord Jesus Christ and a personal relationship with Him.
Scripture verifies this and allows us to discover the reason the Lord created us.
The Bible says, "The heart is eternally wicked, who shall know it!" (Jeremiah 17:9)
The world always looks to find answers for life through all we see around us. It always misses the point that we were never created to find meaningfulness or real joy in the World, Flesh or the Devil. These only lead to destruction and hopelessness. But remember the Lord Jesus said, " I came that they (you) might have life and have it more abundantly!" (John 10:10)
I, in my individual personal ministry to inmates, have seen a hunger and real desire for spiritual answers to life and its meaning. I have so many prisoners literally walking up to me and asking, as the Philippian jailer did with Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" | personally have been blessed to see over 150 men and women come to Christ as their Lord and Savior this year. Pray as we answer the call and fulfill the Lord's direction, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, inasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord." (I Cor. 15:58)
Thank you for making it all possible through your prayers and blessed, caring investments. You are needed! Pray for our Staff.
In His Love for Our Prisoners,
Dr. C. Steve Bradshaw
President/Founder
Reminder for those who have read some of my stories before and for those of you who haven't. McRraven was a highly decorated Navy SEAL trainer whose lessons I have transferred from Navy Seal training to my everyday life. I have learned that his lessons are very similar in the lessons we learn in our life with Christ, IF, we are listening. So, what have I learned lately? Well, life is filled with circuses. You will fail often, and it will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core. But, if you want to change the world, don't be afraid of the circuses.
At least once a week, in Seal training, trainees are required to run an obstacle course. The obstacle course contains 25 obstacles including a 10-foot-high wall, and a 30-foot cargo net in a barbed wire crawl, to name a few.
But the most challenging obstacle is the slide for life. It has a three level 30-foot tower at one end and a one level tower at the other. In between is the 200-foot-long rope. You have to climb the three tier tower and once at the top, you grab the rope, swing underneath the rope and pull yourself hand over hand untit you get to the other end.
The record for the obstacle course had stood for years. The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down the slide for life headfirst. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the top at the rope and thrust himself forward. It was a dangerous move, seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from training. Without hesitation the student slid down the rope perilously fast. instead of several minutes, it only took him half the time and by the end of the course he had broken the long-standing record. If you want to change the world, sometimes you must olide down the obstacle headfirst.
During land warfare training, students are flown to San Clemente Island, which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass Seal training there are a series of long swims that must be completed, one is the night swim. Before this, when the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente, they assure you, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark, at least not recently. You are also taught that if the shark begins to circle your position, stand your ground, do not swim away. Do not act afraid, and if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you, then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away. There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them. So, if you want to change the world, don't back down from the sharks.
Another training opportunity used by Navy seals is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy ships. The ship attack mission is where a pair of seal divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims underwater in almost total darkness, using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target. Sometimes we feel we are behind enemy lines much like the Seals, but even though we are in almost total darkness, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. It reminds me that no matter how dark life gets, HE shows us the beam of light we need to reach HIM, our safe harbor.
At the darkest moment of our mission is the time when we must be calm, composed, when all our tactical skills, our physical power and all our inner strength must be brought to bear. This will make our mission successful. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
When you feel the most hopeless and helpless, raise your voice in the darkness and listen for the echo, one voice raised in Psalm. Even if your song is terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm it will be joined by another voice to become two and two become three and before long everyone will be singing. We know that if one man can rise above the misery (as Jesus did), then othere can do wel
If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person, one person can change the world by giving people hope. So, if you want to change the world start singing when
you’re in the dark.
Finally, in seal training there is a brass belt that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you must do to quit is ring the bell. Ring the belt and you no longer have to wake up at 5:00. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PTA, and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training just bring the bell. If you want to change the world don't ever, evor ving the bell.
Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risk, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever, give up, if you do these things, then the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. What we start here will indeed change the world for the better.
Love to you all. See you next month,
Ivy Kirk
Executive Director