<![CDATA["In the Shadow of The Cross" . . .

John.....

. . . came from Indiana. Mistakes have littered his path since he was seventeen. He's now fifty-three. He spent a little over three years in the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet Illinois back in the late seventy's. One night after a few too many drinks he made a bad decision to drive home. He didn't make it. He said he woke up in jail to learn he had T-boned the car of a young man who had just asked his date to marry him. Neither made it. He said he had never been in trouble but that mattered little because what he had done was bad enough that he felt he deserved to spend the rest of his life in jail. The shame he carried has kept him from holding a job and has made it impossible to develop any kind of lasting relationship. That night was the last time he drove a car.

Even though he was a few years younger than me he looked tired, as if he had traveled more miles than you could count. His leathery face told stories of sadness and shame. As he talked I was mesmerized by his hands. They were scarred and chapped. He was missing his ring finger at the first knuckle. I couldn't help but think each scar, each blemish had a story to go with it. Perhaps it was nothing more than sharing a name, but for some reason he was comfortable talking to me. For well over an hour he talked... and I listened. Then as tears welled up in his eyes he asked "Do you think anyone could ever forgive me?" I thought how shallow it would sound if I simply said "God would forgive you", I'd guessed it had been said often in his life without ringing true. So for the next hour I told him my story. How I grew up a thief stealing cars and anything else I could get my hands on. I told him that by seventeen I was robbing banks and grocery stores throughout the Western states. I told him I spent four years in the Federal Penitentiary and how I became a Cocaine dealer after my release. Then I told him that God forgave me. If God can forgive someone who had spent his life intentionally doing wrong, He certainly can forgive someone who simply made a wrong decision. I told him "You are a good man John. You have wasted way too much of your life hating yourself. It's time to ask His forgiveness and it's time to forgive yourself."

We sat there a while longer and cried. Somehow spending time with John made me rehash the wrongs in my life. I was thankful I served a God who looked past my wrongs and used me in spite of who I was. I am thankful God has forgiven me... and John. He gathered his bags and walked away. I asked where he was going. He just said "Indiana". Often, the people God brings into my life to minister to, minister to me.

"I write to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ".
1 John 2:12 (New Century Version)

Thank you all for your prayers. Your compassion is changing lives. You are bringing hope to a lost and lonely world. Please remember, you're not just feeding people, you're giving them Jesus.

John & Raylene