The God of Green Pastures

Psalm 23:1-2
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures…"

“Green pastures” are the places in our lives where God leads us into rest and reflection upon His goodness. The lush, green meadows are the places where we feel that sense of satisfaction on the inside of us, and our souls can lay down and rest in peace. In this fast-paced, hurry-up world we live in there is no time to rest, or is there? The Good Shepherd says differently.

God leads us into green pastures for a reason. He wants us to enjoy life, and the best part of life is Him. One famous Christian writer once said, “Our souls find no rest until they find their rest in You, O Lord.” I can still remember my life before Jesus, I was never at rest. I was always searching and searching for something outside of me to put in me that would stop the uneasiness and turmoil. I used things like drugs, alcohol, sex, and anything else that would cause a feeling of comfort. But the worldly comforts never lasted long, and all of them ended up paying huge dividends that I wasn’t expecting. No, I needed Someone who could end the search for me.

Bud (name changed) was moved into our re-entry dorm about 7 or 8 months ago. He is an Irish immigrant about 45 years old who had committed a crime in Texas and received a 1-2 year sentence. Bud was set in his ways, and his ways mostly exhibited a lack of trust, negativism, and a tendency to question anything and everything. Right off the bat we knew we had our hands full because he did not trust us or Jesus, especially Jesus. Everybody could tell that life had been cruel to Bud. Of course, his “horse’s rear-end” personality didn’t help matters any, to say the least.

There was no “green pasture” in Bud’s life. He participated in the classes, but with a serious disdain for anything good. You see, we are a re-entry dorm which means we don’t just come in everyday and teach classes, but we also will help the men who show a willingness to follow the program, with a place to live (if they don’t have one), bus passes, work and job-finding clothes, groceries, and other basic necessities until they get stabilized. So there is a lot at stake if you get moved out of the dorm for non-participation. The truth is our program is working. I say that because most of the men who come into the dorm are different men altogether by the time they leave. God’s word (which most of them have never known) starts sprouting and taking root in their lives and there becomes a noticeable difference at some point along their journey. It is truly awesome to witness, but we have to hang in there and not give up on them.

Well, Bud was no different, after a while in the dorm under the teaching, and as a result of other men getting released and writing letters back to the guys in the program saying that we had indeed fulfilled our obligations on the outside, he started loosening up, a little. After each class when we would leave for the day Bud would still start spewing his negative comments like “they aren’t going to help us when we get released” or “they’re just in it for the money (huh, I have no idea where he gets that), they don’t really care about us just watch and see.” And, of course, he got himself into a big wreck because of his bad attitude. But after that, while the bruises were healing and his pride along with it, he started really engaging this Jesus even if it was slow and sporadic (a great place to be for him).

One day we came into the dorm and Bud had been moved to Houston because he was about to be released and Immigration Services wanted to check him out because of his Irish descent. We thought we had lost him for good, but God was working in Bud. Thankfully for most of us, Jesus loves even the “horse’s rear-ends.” A couple of weeks later my phone rang and you’ll never guess who was on the other end. Yep, it was Bud. He said “Hey man, this is Bud and I just got released in Houston, do you remember me?” And I answered that I did (how could I ever forget). “I don’t have any place to go; will you guys still help me?” We (Stek) picked him up around midnight at the Greyhound bus station and took him over to a transitional house we often use for our re-entrants.

Well, being an Irish immigrant with no identification and no birth certificate with him to obtain a Texas I.D. we still got him some clothes, groceries, and a bus pass so he could go look for a job during the week. I don’t know if you caught what I just said. How easy do you think it is going to be to find a job without any identification? You’re right, impossible. Well, that’s what we thought. So we had to send off to New York for a copy of his birth certificate in order to help him get an I.D. when and if it arrives. By now Bud is starting to see that we were serious about our word when we said we would help them when they got out of prison, and he even thanked me (miracle) one day for all of our help. I had never really heard much gratitude out of him for anything. I think Bud is starting to see some “green pasture” in his life even though he may not recognize it as such because of its complete foreignness to him. But God, who in Bud’s mind was only starting to show out because he doesn’t realize how close we came to giving up on him inside the prison, and how everything we have already gotten for him comes from the money that our churches put into a re-entry fund which is God’s property, was about to do the impossible for Bud.

I got a phone call this past week from Bud who has been waiting for the Birth Certificate in hopes of finding a job. He said he needed some work pants and boots and belt by the next morning. He was really excited and went on to tell me how he was standing out in the front-yard of the transitional house when he struck up a conversation with the neighbor. Bud mentioned to the neighbor that he was an out-of-work painter who just got released from prison and was still waiting on some documents to come in the mail so he could go look for a job. And by some stroke of ginormous luck (the God of the green pastures) the neighbor told Bud that he owned his own painting company, and one of his guys didn’t show up for work today. Then he asked Bud if he would like to go to work for him the following day. Wow! What are the chances of that happening? Slim to none unless Jesus is your job-finder (Shepherd). Well, to say the least, Bud has just been led into a "green pasture" by we-know-who. His faith has just taken an enormous leap because even Bud knows the chances of that happening to him are astronomical.

Is Bud a Christian, yet? I don’t know. But I can tell you one thing, it is more than obvious to this Christian that the Shepherd is leading him, whether he is aware of it or not. And I do know this also, Jesus won’t stop pursuing His lost sheep. So, please pray for Bud and all the other inmates who have decided to join our faith-based dorms and give this Jesus a chance.

We at Ministries 101 would like to sincerely thank Jesus who leads us and all of you who are praying for and supporting this most rewarding ministry inside and outside the prisons. We simply can not do it without you or Him.

Dirty Diapers: Handle With Care

I guess you have already surmised by the title of this blog it’s going to get a little messy. It isn’t bad timing either as we are right in the middle of the big “Super-Pampers” fiasco. Moms all over the world are seething at the sight of little, blistered baby bottoms. “Watch out corporate giant you have really messed with the wrong end of the consumer conscience this time.”

I have a good Pastor/friend of mine who always used to say, “With baby Christians, comes dirty diapers.” It is an interesting way of putting it to say the least. But there is a lot of truth packed in that little maxim. As we minister to the offenders in our Christ-centered dorms each day there are often a variety of sticky situations that arise. Most of it just can’t be made up it is so off the charts. We really are baffled sometimes about the depths and depravity that a sinful life can take an individual too. And even more interesting and challenging is when they ask for your guidance to help them navigate their way out of it from here.

The “here” is now that they are following Christ and sincerely want to know and do God’s will (bless their hearts). But let me assure you Christopher Columbus on his best day, with his best maps, doesn’t have the navigational skill and fortitude it is going to take to steer them free from the mazes they have created.

The first thing I want you to remember as we look at just one scenario that we often deal with in the prison is GOD LOVES THESE PEOPLE. Yep, there is no doubt about it the Lord is absolutely head over heels in love with His new, baby Christians. I pity the fool who gets in the way of their faith and relationship with Him. Satan has had them under his control for a long time, and I’m sure the Lord has spared their lives on multiple occasions just so He could enjoy this new season with them as their Father. He is like a doting mother with a newborn that has been a long time coming. That being said let me share with you a real life “dirty diaper” of many new Christians that we are asked to help change and dispose of everyday.

Susie (name changed to protect the innocent) calls me aside after I have given a riveting (just kidding) class on the love of God.
I ask her how she is doing and how I can help her.
Susie looks up at me with tears in her eyes and says, “Devon, I was wondering what I should do about my husband. Well, actually he’s not my husband, but we have a kid together. Well, we actually have a couple of kids together, my daughter is ours and our boy is his from him and another lady.”
I say “Uh huh.”
And she goes on to say, “You see, I also have three other kids, but I don’t have custody of them and they are from three different dads, which is not really a big deal because one of their dads is in prison and he ain’t never getting out, and one of them drank himself to death, and the other one, well I don’t know where he is.” And I say “Uh huh,”
and she says (now with tears filling the floor around us both) “I want to do what is right by Jesus. But my current boyfriend doesn’t know the Lord, and he drinks, and he does drugs (usually a dealer), but he takes real good care of our kids (Really?). So what should I do?”
To which I firmly and wisely reply, “Uh huh?”
Susie then says, “Devon, should I divorce my husband/boyfriend or are we even married since we just lived together for a year (known in Texas as common law marriage) before I got locked up this third time, since he’s out cheating on me anyway?”
To which I can only reply (by this time ready to cry myself), you guessed it, “Uh huh.”

Now let me remind you again, this is a conversation my partners and I have actually had with many women on many different occasions. I don’t think even “Super-Pampers” without all their current trouble in the press could even begin to clean this mess up. Now, can I ask you something? What would you say to this girl if she asked you what to do?

God bless you all, Devon.

Our Biggest Challenge: Fighting the Mask

One of our biggest challenges when dealing with offenders is fighting the masks they tend to wear to cover their true identities. Of course, this is not only true of incarcerated men and women, but is also true about most of us in general. It is, however, especially prevalent in the prison setting. Satan has had a firm grip on the mentality of most inmates for the duration of their lives, and when you bunch them all together under one roof, it is not easy to pry loose his strongholds in their minds. If we were to think about their thought patterns, and belief systems, and what it is going to take to shake them out of them it would be too overwhelming to even want to try. I know because I’ve made this very mistake. I have learned that it’s going to take all of us and then some working together, and we can’t leave out the most important Person of all in the equation.

“But God,” are the two biggest words in the Bible. When we factor in the power of our Lord and the power of His word, then we can all exhale and realize it isn’t all up to us, and we can press on knowing He can overcome all they have learned in their past lives. Our biggest ally in the fight against the mask is the pain that living with a mask has racked up over time for them. Once they see that their ways just aren’t working, and the pain of staying the same starts outweighing the pain of change, we as ministers of the gospel start seeing the sunshine coming from over the horizon. We start seeing them show up for class with enthusiasm and hope, instead of gloom and drudgery. Instead of them looking like your about to extract some of their teeth during class, they begin to ask questions, and want to know where this verse is and that verse is, and they want us to stay a little later and pray for them, and slowly but surely the word of God starts bearing fruit, tangible fruit, just like He said it would (imagine that). However, this does not happen over night, but it does happen if we hang in there long enough by loving on them, accepting them right where they’re at, staying faithful to them, and allowing room for their mistakes. Funny isn’t it, that sounds just like what our Lord has done for us (imagine that).

Be blessed this week as you reach out to anyone and everyone with love,