Many today, in places of power, think 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 violated. After watching so many years of these Worldly efforts, I'm convensed without a doubt, the only real answer is found through the Lord Jesus Christ and a personal relationship with Him. This allows us to discover the reason the Lord created us and to find our real purpose.
The Bible says, "The heart is eternally wicked, who shall know it!" (Jeremiah 17:9) The world always looks to find answers for life and happiness through all we see around us. It always misses the point that we were never created to find meaningfulness or real happiness 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. This all with a Spiritual hunger as never before. This is so clear after the experience of 43 years of ministry behind bars. Never before have I had so many prisoners literally walk up to me and ask, as the Philippian jailer did with Paul, "What must I do to be saved?" 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 investments.
In His Love for the Prisoners,
Steve Bradshaw
PEACE to all on this most beautiful day from Project HUB!
This is a momentous week for Project HUB. Eddie Warrior Correctional Facility, Taft, OK, has asked us to teach our educational programs. This is especially important and exciting for us, and such a great opportunity. We will be teaching programs that only staff or head chaplains have taught in the past. Please pray that our programs will be successful and beneficial to all inmates taking part in them.
"What starts here changes the world." University of Texas motto.
If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
According to McRaven, many times a week, the instructors would line up for the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed, and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, pressing your uniform, or polishing your belt buckle - it just was not good enough. The instructors would find "something" wrong.
For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was coated with sand. The effect was known as a "sugar cookie." You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day - cold, wet, and sandy.
There were numerous students who just could not accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students did not make it through training. Those students did not understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.
Sometimes, no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform, you still end up as a sugar cookie. It is just the way life is sometimes. If you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
This is always the way it will be with our relationship with God, and even our relationships with anyone we encounter. Do your best, be your best, but never give up. You can accomplish so much more by being a "sugar cookie" than you can by never rolling in the sand.
God loves a "sugar cookie."
Love to all,
Ivy S. Kirk